The Z Identity
by Team Dragon Star
Summary: Upon his death, a father leaves his reluctant son a dark secret. Plunged into a deadly world of shadows and people who aren't what they seem, the son must unravel this mystery even as it threatens to consume him whole. AU
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: Team Dragon Star does not own DBZ.**

**This story is brought to you by ShadowMajin. Enjoy.**

Dark clouds, heavy with moisture and looking to burst at any moment loomed on the horizon. It was for that reason a large tent cover had been erected, providing some protection to the congregation of people there. There weren't that many people, but there was more than Gohan had seen in quite some time. Everyone was dressed in black—the men in suits and the women in dresses. While the men were stoic, there were more than one woman sniveling, crumpled handkerchiefs clutched in their hands, be it gloved or bare.

Under the tent a few rows of chairs were placed, most of them seating the select group. Some men had opted to standing next to rows, right next to the wide openings of the tent. In front of the chairs was a small podium, a priest standing behind it as he set a thick black book on it. Reaching into his robes, he pulled out a set of reading glasses and placed them on his face, scratching his nose before he grasped the book and opened it to a marked page.

Between the congregation and the priest was a polished, wooden casket, hovering over a rectangular hole by a set of railing lining the hole. Gohan found himself staring at the casket, part of him numb, another part wallowing in sorrow. He hadn't expected this day to come, not this soon. And it hurt. It really, really hurt. The man in this casket had always seemed strong, insurmountable even. It was as if nothing could hurt him, and yet…

And yet his father was nothing more than a lifeless body. His father Son Goku was...

It had come out of the blue. Gohan had just returned to his little apartment from work when he noticed his answering machine blinking. It wasn't often that he received calls, so he was surprised to find he had a message. Unfortunately, the man's voice he heard belong to someone he didn't know, informing him that his father had passed away. His whole world had stop there for who knows how long. But when it restarted, Gohan had found himself making calls to people to find out if this news was true.

The clearing of the priest's throat broke Gohan out of his musings.

"Today is a sad day," the priest said, bowing his head for some reason. When he rose it, he said "All of us gathered here on this most unfortunate of days knew the dearly departed Goku and had been privileged to have known him in life. I didn't know him very well, but from all of his friends and family, I have gathered that Goku was a man of unquestionable strength and integrity. His smiles could brighten up a room when he gave them and he only showed those he loved and cared for these smiles. Like an angel gifted upon those who love and cherish others, a reward of profound wealth."

Small pelting sounds rattled the top of the tent, signaling that the clouds had given into their need, letting out drops of rain to fall upon them. The sound grew louder and louder with each passing second until it evened out. A woman towards the front let out a sob before blowing loudly into her handkerchief.

"Yet Goku does not wish us to mourn his loss, but celebrate the life he led, the people he met and loved, the accomplishments he had achieved. Do not drown yourselves in sorrow for that is not what he would have wanted. Instead, remember him as he was, living, breathing, and forever smiling."

Gohan could feel himself losing his focus by this point, his eyes glazing over as he remembered the last time he had seen his father. Nothing had been out of the ordinary, aside from how subdued he was—as if he weren't getting enough sleep lately. But that had been normal for the man. For as long as he could remember, Goku had been a steady presence, completely in control of himself. He didn't smile much, but it was definitely something to behold when he did. A mentor would have been a better way to describe him.

There were some things that troubled him for sure, such as Gohan's social troubles. For some reason Gohan had problems making friends. There were people that were friendly enough with him, but he wasn't the guy going to bars and clubs like the rest of his colleagues. Goku had more than once asked him why he didn't have many friends. Truth be told, Gohan preferred the quiet life and that wasn't always conducive to making friends. Forever a man lonely in a crowd.  
And now with his tenuous tie to a social life severed by death, Gohan truly was an island unto himself.

Movement caught Gohan's attention, rousing him once more from his thoughts. The people around him were bowing their heads, the priest's voice taking on a more commanding tone. Instantly, Gohan bowed his head as he began recognizing passage from the holy book.

"…though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil for the lord is with me and I with him; your rod and your staff they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows. Surely your goodness and love will follow me all of the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Amen."

"Amen," Gohan murmured with the rest of the congregation.

"And now we pay our last respects to Goku, our beloved and dearest of friends. We send him to his final destination and hope that we may see him when we make our own journey."

As if that were a cue, the casket began lowering into the grave beneath it, and several more loud snivels could be heard. It was then that Gohan noticed his father's grave stone, the marker being hidden from sight by the casket it. It read:

_SON GOKU_  
_He shall be missed_

Oh yes, he surely would be.

* * *

"Are you Mr. Son Gohan?"

Gohan turned his head upon hearing his name. Once his father's coffin had been lowered, everyone had begun leaving at their leisure. Many had been hesitant due to the arrival of the rain, but some had thought beforehand and had brought umbrellas. Gohan hadn't been such a person and had waited for the downpour to lessen. It had been as he was leaving that he had been hailed. He found an elderly man standing nearby, looking at him expectantly behind red-rimmed sunglasses. Like everyone else, he was also dressed in a suit, looking quite formal. Taking a couple steps closer to him, the old man removed his wide-brimmed hat, revealing a completely bald head as he held the hat to a side, reaching out with his other hand.

Courteously, Gohan took the man's hand and gave him a steady headshake. "What can I do for you?" he asked.

The man's long white beard shifted as he gave a wry smile. "You're just like your old man said you were: very polite."

Gohan frowned. For a moment, he could have sworn he had heard this man's voice before, but he couldn't quite place where. "Um…excuse me? Did you know my father?"

"Indeed I did. I am Muten Roshi, your father's lawyer. I was the one that left you the message informing you of your father's passing. I believe you returned the call, but ended up speaking to my secretary."

Oh yes, now he placed him. Indeed, he had spoken to Mr. Roshi's secretary concerning his father's death. The old man had been out of the office when Gohan had called, frantic to know if that call had been nothing more than a prank call.

"Oh yes, thank you for coming out," Gohan said, shaking the man's hand a second time, this time with renewed vigor. "What can I do for you?"

Releasing their grasp, Roshi said, "Nothing too troubling, I assure you. There are a few matters that need to be attended to, specifically concerning your father's estate. If it isn't a bother, would you accompany me to my office? We can settle everything there."

"Sure, I can do that. Umm, do you want to take the same car or something?"

"You came in your own car I see. That's alright, you can just follow me to the office. But first, I need to see a couple of other people, so please don't go anywhere."

"Alright," Gohan acknowledged. With another thin smile, Roshi clasped his shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze before taking off. Gohan watched as the elderly man approached a woman, the one that had been sobbing in the front row. The young man frowned as Roshi seemed to console the woman. Faintly he wondered how she knew his father and how well she knew him. She really seemed torn up about his passing, more so than everyone around here. Part of him wondered what it would have felt like to feel as that woman was feeling.

And what did it say about him that he wasn't?

* * *

Roshi's law office was a humble sort of place. For some reason, Gohan had it in his head that Roshi was apart of some big law firm in some giant skyscraper downtown. Imagine his surprise when Roshi had led him to a small, two-story building on the outskirts of town. The first floor had been a lobby with a few other offices, Roshi's office being on the second floor, the largest of the rooms on that floor. It was easily twice the size of Gohan's bedroom, half of it lined with bookcases with a large oak desk covered with legal briefs, papers, and various desk supplies. The other half of the room was more spacious, a couple of couches and chairs placed around a small coffee table.

Gohan found himself sitting in a chair in front of the oak desk, looking about the room anxiously. He hadn't ever felt the need to be in a law office, nor needed to be in one, so actually sitting in one was a new experience for him and he had no idea what was expected of him. New experiences were always nerve wracking for him.

The door to the office was wide open, which allowed Roshi to stroll in with a large, manila folder. "Sorry it took so long. My…uhh…secretary misplaced it."

"Th-that's alright," Gohan replied. Looking towards Roshi, he couldn't help but notice a red handprint on the side of the elderly man's face. Something told the Son man that the document's misplacement wasn't the only reason why Roshi was detained.

As he took a seat in his plush-looking chair, Roshi opened the folder and pulled out a small stack of papers. "Now, this is a copy of your father's last will and testament. I'm already familiar with the document, and if you wish, I can give you a quick summary of the document."

"Yeah, let's go with that. Tell me what's in the will."

"Well, your father didn't have many assets or property, but he has left his home and all his possessions contained within to you. That includes the furniture, clothes, family heirlooms, and such. There is also a small account that he had placed in your name a sum of money totaling at 25,000 zenni, which you can use at your own discretion. He also left instructions detailing how he wishes his body to be disposed of, though I've already taken the liberty of completing."  
Gohan nodded his head as he leaned back into his chair. "Thank you for that."

Roshi nodded his head in acceptance. "I believe that just about covers everything. All you need to do is sign this document here." At this, Roshi pulled out a sheet of paper and slid it over his desk towards Gohan. "All this says is that you have been notified and have received your inheritance as gifted to you by your father, Son Goku. Just sign and date at the bottom."

Leaning up, Gohan picked up a pen from a nearby pen jar and gave the sheet of paper a quick read through. Satisfied that it said what Roshi claimed it did, he signed and dated it, then slid the paper back to the lawyer, setting his pen down on the desk. "So is that all?"

For a moment, Roshi seemed as if he were about to say as much before some thought struck him. "Oh! I almost forgot." Picking up the folder, he turned it upside down and began shaking it, a set of keys dropping out of it and landing on the desk with a loud thud. Picking them up, he handed them to Gohan as he said "These are the keys to your new house. I believe you'll be needing them."

* * *

Gohan stood in the master bedroom. It looked the same as it did that last time he was here -oh so long ago. The room was clean and orderly, almost as if no one had been living here for months. It was like staring at a room display of how a bedroom was supposed to look like rather than what it really was. But then, he could say that about the rest of the house. Everything was there that was expected to be there. It was as if all the furniture and appliances were there _just because_ rather than for a purpose. Yet, he had grown up in this house. He had been far messier when he had been roaming these halls and rooms, so it made sense that it would be easier to keep things clean without a little child around.

Gohan wasn't shocked by the arrangement of the house though. His father had always been working, so he was rarely—if ever—at home.

Squeezing his fingers tight, he felt the set of keys he had been given in his hand, the jagged side of each key pressing into his palm. These were his father's spare house keys—he knew this from the missing car key on the key ring. As far as he knew, he had a house key and a bunch of other ones that he wasn't sure what lock they went to. He had tried every key on the front, back, and side door just to see what they all went to and found that only one key worked on each door. Gohan was assuming one of the keys went to an office or whatever job Goku had done throughout his life. Still, that would only account for one key and there were quite a few left unknown. It was rather odd to say the least.

With a sigh, Gohan pushed the thought aside and turned to the closet. There was going to be many things in this house that he was going to have to get rid of—mostly clothes and redundant furniture. With this house now in his possession, it made no sense to have his apartment and this house and not be using one of them. Since this place was bought and paid for, it just made all the more sense to move in. Taking a couple steps to the closed closet, Gohan grabbed onto the door handle and opened it up, revealing a rather messy looking closet. The young man blinked at the sight. It was a striking contrast to the rest of the house.

"So Dad did leave a mess behind," he murmured to himself.

Looking at it, he found his father's shirts, pants, and coats hanging from a metal bar reaching from one side of the closet to the other. That wasn't the messy part. It was the pile of boxes, random papers, and random knick-knacks below the hanging clothes that were a mess. There was a similar mess on a shelf above the clothes. It was almost as if someone had crammed as many things as they could and barely closed the door without it all falling out on top of them. In fact, it was miracle already that the pile hadn't fallen on Gohan the moment he opened the door.

Then as if to prove him right, a stack of papers resting on the shelf fell forward, several sheets flying about the room randomly. The majority of the paper stack landed on top of a box, causing it to topple forward, which resulted in a chain reaction of a few more boxes falling out of the closet. Quickly, Gohan leapt backwards, a few of the boxes landing where he had been standing, their contents bursting out a moment later.

Staring at the sight, Gohan rubbed a hand against his forehead. He just had to curse his luck, didn't he? Letting out another sigh, he then tossed the keys onto the bed and kneeled down, shoving the spilled contents of the boxes back into their cardboard containers. He made sure to get a look at everything before he put them back; one never knew if they would find something worth keeping. Moving the repackaged boxes to another part of the room, he continued cleaning out the closet, looking through the other unopened boxes, finding some things to keep and others to get rid of. A box of Halloween costumes here, a couple of sport trophies there—it was like a walk down memory lane.

Opening one box, Gohan found a stack of photos resting inside. Pausing, the young man reached in and began through them. A small smile crept onto his face as he saw familiar images: a picture of him and his father, both smiling at a mountain retreat; another of them on a fishing trip, a giant fish held by the tail in his father hand, a child-aged Gohan wrapping his arms around its giant head, his arms not even reaching halfway around it. Another photo showed him graduating high school, a wide smile on his face as his father smirked at the camera, his strong arm wrapped around Gohan's shoulders.

Gohan continued going through the photos, each one a pleasant reminder of times gone by. Who knew his father had kept such things? The man had hardly struck him as a sentimental guy. Perhaps there was more to him than he—

Gohan paused. Looking into the box, he saw something peeking out some photos. Setting the pictures in his hands to a side, he reached into the box and began moving the photos still in the box. There was a metal box in there, smooth and sleek. There were handles on either side of the box, ones that Gohan grasped and lifted the metal box out.

Once he got a better look at it, Gohan recognized it as a lock box. "Huh, wonder what Dad keeps in here," he said out loud. There was a small lock on top, meaning that he wasn't going to be getting into it any time soon. Too bad.

Grimacing, Gohan set the lock box on the floor and moved to clean up the mess he had made. That was when he caught sight of the keys on the bed. Turning to face them, he reached out and picked them up, bringing them closer for a closer examination. There was a small key, smaller than the other ones on the ring. Staring at it, Gohan then looked to the lock on the lock box and wondered. Was this the key to that box? Figuring he had nothing to lose, he shifted the key set until he hold the small key between his fingers. Turning back to the lock box, he then tried to insert the key into the lock.

Lo and behold, the key went in, and turning the key, the lock shifted with it, unlocking the box. Moving his hands to the side of the box, he lifted the top of the box and gazed inside.

What he found was a large, thick manila folder and on top of it several glass vials, each containing a liquid of varying color. A couple of the fluids were clear while one was purple and another green. Frowning, Gohan picked up one of the clear vials and turned it in his hand, examining it. It was then he found a small, white label with black print on it. The first thing he immediately noticed was a small logo of a skull with crossbones beneath it. Next to the logo was the wording _Ethylene glycol_. What the heck was this stuff?

Obviously the skull and crossbones meant it was toxic, but toxic to what? People? Animals? Gohan dropped his eyes to look at the other vials, finding each one had the same sort of label with the logo and name of the substance. _Tetrodotoxin, Bungarotoxin, Methacrylonitrile, _and _Dichloroethyl ether _were just a few of the names he saw. However, it was the vial labeled _Cyanide _that got his attention. And…was that…_Arsenic_?

Holy shit, these _were_ poisons! Immediately, Gohan put the vial back into the lock box and slammed the lid shut. Locking it, he pulled the key out and shoved the box as far away from him as possible. The keys were making a soft, jingling sound, evidence that he was physically shaking. What…what the hell was that? Why would his father have that stuff? Sure it was locked where no one could get it, but a normal person shouldn't be able to get their hands on cyanide or arsenic. Those were federally regulated toxins! Everyone knew that!

No, he wasn't going to go further with this. Quickly, Gohan got to his feet and walked up to the lock box and picked it up. He then put it back into the cardboard box he found it in, paused, then walked over to the closet. On the upper shelf he saw a blanket and grabbed it, pulling it down. Fortunately, that action didn't pull down any of the precarious packed boxes his father had stuffed up there. Returning back to the box, he shoved the blanket into it and on top of the lock box, hiding it from sight. Closing it, he was sad to not see any packing tape nearby, but didn't feel like searching the house for any. Instead, he then shoved the box into the back corner of the closet, then grabbed some of the boxes he had placed about the room and packed them around the offending box.

Once he was satisfied with his work, he closed the closet, happy to see it close with ease. Turning away, Gohan then spied the pictures he had been looking at scattered on the floor. Bending down, he gathered them all into one small stack. As he stood back up, he couldn't help but stare at the one on top, his graduation photo. Focusing on Goku's smirking features, Gohan couldn't help but say out loud "Dad, what were you doing?"

All he got was silence in return. After a moment, he shook his head and turned to a nearby dresser. Opening the top drawer—finding it to be his father's underwear and sock drawer—he put the photos in it and shut the drawer. Then with that, he left the bedroom and made his way out of the house.

That lock box, the poison, the giant secret that had fallen into his lap—Gohan wanted nothing more to do with it.

Nothing at all.


	2. Chapter 2

**This chapter is brought to you by ShadowMajin**

It had been a whole week since Gohan had gone to the house. A week to stew and wonder about that lockbox he had found. A week to do research on the poisons contained within and so far he hadn't liked what he saw.

Why had his father been holding onto these deadly poisons? It wasn't like he could pull them out for some common, everyday household use. Each poison was made to kill a person, the only use they had. This was the reason why the government monitored every purchase that was made for them.

So what was someone like his father doing with them in his possession?

And for once in his life, Gohan had been stumped. He had no idea what his father had done for a living. All he knew was that it had taken up a lot of his time and had caused him to be away from home for days, if not weeks at a time. And if Goku had been out with one of those poison…well, the implications didn't sit very well for Gohan. He knew father. Thought he knew him very well. There was no way on Earth his father would purposefully go out and kill people. It was against his very existence. And yet…

And yet those vials said otherwise.

That was the only reason why Gohan found himself back in that bedroom, along with a few precautionary items. Latex gloves, a dust mask, and a "Sharps container" were sitting on the floor, next to the cardboard box holding the lockbox. Gohan had dug the box out of the closet, placing everything he had put in front of it on the other side of the room. He wanted plenty of room to handle these poisons and any other surprises that might lie within that metal box.

Pulling on the gloves and placing the dust mask on his face, Gohan opened the cardboard box and removed the blanket he found. Tossing it onto the bed, he then reached in and pulled out the lockbox, setting it on the floor delicately. Taking a deep breath, Gohan held it for a moment before releasing it in a large burst. It was now or never. Removing his keys from his pocket, he inserted the key once more into the lock and turned it. Opening the lid, he found the folder and poisons right where he had left them.

_Now for the stressful part._ Carefully, Gohan picked up one of the vials and slowly moved it towards the Sharps container. The container itself was a small red box with an opaque plastic lid. A small hatch on top of the lid was wide jutting up into the air, revealing a hole. As he had understood it, the Sharps container was made for disposable glass lab supplies, like slides, needles, and broken test tubes. Anything with an edge was supposed go into here rather than a trash can or biohazard bag. Carefully, Gohan lowered the glass tube into the Sharps container, holding his breath until he felt the tube's bottom touch the bottom of the container. Leaning it to a side, he didn't release the vial until it was resting against the side of the container and pulled his hand out.

Letting out the breath he had been holding, Gohan dropped his arm to the floor while he raised his other one to wipe his forehead. There wasn't any sweat, but considering how nervous he was, he wouldn't have been surprised if he had broken into one. Unfortunately, there were still quite a few more vials to move, so his job wasn't finished. Steeling his nerves, Gohan turned to remove another vial.

It felt like forever as he moved one vial at a time, each one causing a faint rattling sound as he released them in the Sharps container. Each rattle made him wait with baited breath, fearful of a potential broken tube, yet none ever did. Once he had the last vial placed safely within the container, he closed the small hatch and let out a big sigh as he heard the familiar clicking of the lid sealing shut. Leaning away from the container, Gohan took his time composing himself—he didn't want to set off some hidden booby trap after all of that hard work.

Eventually, his eyes settled on the folder still in the lockbox. Staring at it, Gohan waited for several moments, letting the sight of it soak into his mind. It looked harmless enough, yet what was in it was something he wasn't quite ready for. Whatever his thoughts of his father were, they were threatened by whatever was inside of it. The young man steeled his nerves. He had come this far, he might as well—no, needed to go the whole way. With his resolve firmly in place, he took off the mask and set it aside, reaching over to the folder and lifting it out.

His attention was suddenly captured by a new sight. As it turned out, the folder and the poisons weren't the only things in that lockbox. Hidden beneath them were several more items, specifically small stacks of money. Well to be fair, money was quite eye-catching. Sitting the folder down on the floor, Gohan reached back into the box and grabbed a couple of stacks. He could tell by just looking at them that they were of different currencies. There was one stack for his native country, but several more of other countries entirely. The different color inks, symbols, and pictures of the bills proved as much. Altogether, there was a small fortune of these different bills in here.

There had to be more. Quickly, Gohan tossed the small stacks of money next to the folder and dug out all the other currencies he could find. For all he knew there were more surprises in this box and he wasn't disappointed. Next to the bills were a small stack of passports, each one placed on top of another, but not completely as to show the one beneath it. Pushing them all into one stack, Gohan pulled them all out and placed them in his lap.

Holding the top one in front of him, Gohan opened it up and found a picture of his father, along with his name, address, date-of-birth, and other related information. This was his father's usual passport. Setting that one aside, he opened the second one and found a completely different person in it aside from the same picture of his father. This one was for a Himura Kenshin. The third one revealed a David Cain, again with completely different information, but his father's picture was present. Ilich Sanchez. Paul Kay. Yuri Gretkov. All different information, but all with the same picture. Why did he have so many of them? What was the point? Were all of these people his father?

Was Son Goku even his real name?

Gohan leaned himself back, feeling his back press up against the foot of the bed. Who really was Son Goku, the man he called _Father_? Now that he thought about it, he really couldn't say he knew the man at all. As far as he could remember, his father had been in and out of his life. He was there for the important stuff—the parent/teacher conferences, the youth sports, and the like—but outside of those, the man wasn't around much. Gohan had always figured that he was working, doing his best to give them a roof over their heads and food on the table; never mind that the food had been simple foods, something a child could make on their own. Gohan had to learn how to cook if he wanted to eat something.

The more he thought about it, the more it seemed that Goku had been working, but not the job that Gohan had been told of. Bile climbed up the back of his throat. The poison, the money, the passports—there were only so many reasons a person could do with each, much less have all of them at the same time. Had his father been going out to kill people, leaving him behind in this house? A sickening feeling was welling up in Gohan's stomach.

Slowly, his hands began to clench into fists. Gohan felt himself grow more and more enraged with each passing second. Oh how he wanted to trash this room, unleash his anger on the furniture and anything that remotely reminded him on his father. How could that man hide such a devastating secret? No, how could he even think of taking another person's life? His father had been the one to instill in him that killing another person was wrong, that the only justification for it was in self-defense. And yet this lockbox said differently.

Gohan shut his eyes as he lifted his hands up, and rubbed his temples. No, he had to stop this thinking. He didn't have anything outside of circumstantial evidence that pointed at such a dreadful conclusion. Maybe there was some justifiable reason for having such deadly poisons in his house—though what that reason was, was nothing more than a wild shot in the dark.

Opening his eyes, Gohan caught sight of the folder he had set aside earlier. Perhaps…perhaps that could clear up this mystery some. Reaching out, he picked up the folder and brought it to him. Holding it in his lap, part of Gohan was scared of what he would find inside. It could be anything from confirming his worst fears of his father to clearing the man's name from any taint that may have come to it upon Gohan finding the poisons. And yet, there was another part of him that truly wanted to know what was inside—for the exact same reasons as well.

Seconds ticked away as he sat, staring at the folder. Gohan wasn't sure how long it was before he mustered the effort to open the folder, but when he did, he felt his heart sink in his chest. Inside was a small briefing on a sheet of paper. It looked like a standardized form, one that most likely had several copies of it just waiting to be used. Words such as Name, Address, Phone Number, Age, Blood Type, and so on were followed by blanks, each blank filled with printed type. There was all the relevant information concerning a man called Ox King, including picture of the man. He was a big man to be sure, though whether that was from muscle or just bulk, Gohan wasn't sure. He had a beard though, and a hat with small horns sticking out of them.

Once he read through the relevant info, Gohan then saw a blank titled Action. In the blank was the word TERMINATE.

That was all Gohan needed to know. It was just as he had feared. His father was a hired killer, an assassin. The paper didn't say who he worked for or what side he was with, but that was of little consequence at the moment. The sick feeling in his gut was now rising up into his chest, which made the young man shove the folder off his lap and immediately climb to his feet, using the bed behind him to help pull him up. Once on his feet, he was careful to avoid knocking over the Sharps container and hurried to the nearest bathroom. He didn't bother shutting the door behind him as he fell to his knees in front of the toilet. He was just in time too as stomach fluid rushed up his esophagus and out his mouth, pouring out into the clear waters of the toilet. Gohan made retched gagging sounds as he emptied his stomach, gripping the edge of the toilet until his knuckles turned white.

Gohan had no idea how long he sat in front of the porcelain bowl, only that the bathroom eventually echoed with the sounds of his pants. A sheen of sweat covered his forehead, small droplets slowly sliding down his face. He was staring into the toilet, completely oblivious to the vomit inside. Warily, he raised one of his hands and pressed down on the flusher, the toilet bowl shooting out water and washing its contents down the drain. Hypnotically, Gohan watched as clear, clean water filled up the bowl, a few remnants of his earlier sickness barely clinging to the smooth porcelain side.

Why? Why hadn't he just ignored those poisons? Why did he have to go digging into something he never should have found in the first place? Gohan's face twisted with grief. He wanted it to go back, back to the way it was before. His father was still the man he had always known him to be. He was still working at his job unabated. None of this ever existed.

Yet he knew better.

There was no going back now. His father was a killer and Gohan couldn't go back to living his life in ignorance. There was so much of his father he didn't know about and Gohan knew it would always eat at him if he didn't try figuring out every last bit of this secret life he had led. There was a reason why Goku had gone into this sordid business and even if he didn't like where it took him, Gohan had to know why. Slowly, his facial features began to smooth out, reflecting a calmer state of mind. Determination soon appeared on his face. No more secrets, no more lies.

Gohan was going to get to the bottom of this mystery.

But where to start? It wasn't like he could just use a search engine on the internet and all the answers he wanted would pop up. Considering that Gohan hadn't known about it for his entire life, it would stand to reason a lot more people wouldn't know about it either. Heck, the fact there were so many people at Goku's funeral belied that they hadn't known of Goku's true profession. If they had, Gohan doubted many, if not all wouldn't have come.

Perhaps there was something in the lockbox that could help him? Using the toilet, Gohan slowly pushed himself onto his feet and strode purposefully back into the master bedroom. Carefully avoiding the Sharps container once more, he sat back down in his previous place, grabbing the folder again and studiously reading it. Ox King, needed to be terminated, accidental death preferably, deadline none. Hmm, well there wasn't much there outside of a kill order. Gohan needed to check out this Ox King guy to see what possible reason there was for someone wanting to kill him. There wasn't any need for assumptions at this point so he wasn't going to make any.

Making sure everything in the folder was orderly arranged, he closed it and set it aside, turning his attention back to the lockbox. The money was already out of it, along with the passports, so there wasn't much left inside. Right where the passports had been placed was a small case. Picking that up, Gohan opened it to find a series of needles lined up from smallest to largest and locked into place. On the opposite side of the needles was a needleless syringe. This was probably the way his father intended on using those poisons he had.

Closing the case and placing it on top of the folder, the only thing else he saw in the lockbox was a few pieces of paper and a few business cards. Picking up all the business cards, he rifled through them, not seeing much of a connection between them all. There was one that belonged to a jeweler, another to a thrift shop, a restaurant, and a couple of other innocuous places. Was it possible they all were contacts for his father? People he could go to for information or killing supplies? There were specific people's names on the cards after all. Hmm, perhaps he needed to go visit each one and see what was their relationship with his father. It wasn't much, but at least it was a potential starting point.

Glancing back at the bits of paper left in the box, Gohan shrugged his shoulders and began picking them up and looking at them, checking both sides anything important. Several of them turned out to be blanks, but a few had letters on one side.

_That is really odd._ What was the point of having torn pieces of paper with random letters on them? Why not throw them away? _And wait, is that a number?_ Looking closer, Gohan found he was not mistaken. Not only were there letters, but numbers as well. Well joy, this was a headache waiting to happen.

Sighing, Gohan looked up from the box and stared at the mess he had created. From the money, to the folder, to the passports and so on, he really had a mystery on his hands. And unfortunately, it wasn't going to be solved with him sitting on his behind in a bedroom. He was going to have to go out and do some legwork. However, he could not? just leave all this stuff behind.

Getting up, Gohan left the room, heading for the kitchen. When he got there, he went straight to the sink and kneeled down before it. There were small cabinet below the sink, ones that Gohan opened to reveal a small collection of cleaning supplies and a box of black, heavy-duty garbage bags. Reaching into the box, he pulled out a garbage bag and stood back up on his feet. Opening the bag, he began throwing it up and down, letting the air open it up the rest of the way as the bag seemed to expand widely. Satisfied, he then headed back into the bedroom and tossed the money into the bag.

Hey, this mission of his wasn't going to be cheap you know.

Looking at the passports, Gohan wasn't sure how he would be needing them, but figured they wouldn't hurt to have in the event he needed to use one. He would have to change the photo on them, but that would have to come later. Tossing them into the bag, he pulled the folder out from underneath the syringe case and added it into the bag as well. A potential bargaining chip if he needed it. The pieces of paper were worthless so they would stay where they were. The business cards ended up in Gohan's pocket since he knew he'd be needing to access them shortly.

That just left the syringe case and the poisons. The case was an easy enough decision, Gohan placing it back into the lock box, however, the poison vials were another story entirely. He really should dispose of them, make sure that no one would be harmed by them ever. Yet, how would he explain how he came into possession of them? He wasn't exactly authorized to be handling them. Perhaps that was a problem for another day?

Reaching out to his mask, he placed it back on his face and then pulled over the Sharps container. As carefully as he could, he pulled off the entire plastic lid of the container, revealing all of the vials lying diagonally in the box, their rounded bottoms resting on the flat surface of the container and their sealed tops against the red, plastic walls. Steadying himself, Gohan then started the long process of transferring each vial one at a time back into the lock box. He wasn't as nervous this time around and before he knew it, all the vials were back in the box, carefully placed next to each other.

Closing the lock box, he locked it once more and picked up the metal box, placing it back into the cardboard box, followed by the blanket. Just as before, he buried the cardboard box in the back of the closet. Once done, he closed the closet doors and removed the mask from his face. Tossing it into the Sharps container, followed soon by the latex gloves, he put the lid back onto the container and picked it up with his newly-filled garbage bag.

Gohan was going to have to return the Sharps container from where he had gotten it, but once that was done, he would be on his way into the depths of his mystery he found himself in. Well, actually he needed to arrange for some time off from his work, but the young man was sure that would go along smoothly.

After that, there would be nothing to stop him.


	3. Chapter 3

**This chapter again brought to you by ShadowMajin.**

**Disclaimer: TDS does not own Dragon Ball Z.**

* * *

INCUMBENT OX-KING WINS THIRD TERM

SENATOR BACKS CONSERVATION EFFORTS IN 439 REGION

SENATOR PROPOSES JUNK FOOD BAN FOR SCHOOLS

PARTY LINE STANCE HELD IN FAVOR OF DEFENSE BUDGET

With a sigh, Gohan closed down window and leaned back in his seat. Never let it be said that the internet was the best way for research. Oh, it helped at times, but rarely did it provide the exact information a searcher was looking for. He hadn't even found a mention on the guy's life.

The young man was sitting at his dining room table in his apartment, his laptop showing his desktop—a loveable teddy bear holding a sign that said "Have a nice day!" just so you know—as it sat on the table. To Gohan, it was as if that bear was taunting him with the results of his search. He had been looking for information on this Ox King fellow that he had found in the folder—the one that placed a bull's eye on the man. all he had been able to find out through various search engines was that the Ox King was a very large senator who represented some rural district out to the East. There were a few articles here and there that spoke of his positions on some issues and his voting record, but there wasn't anything that indicated why someone would want him dead. Heck, the man's own webpage—the site that had given Gohan the most information he had—had only given him the basics.

"Well, this was a dead end," Gohan said out loud. He had felt that if he had a better idea on who his father's target had been, the more…well…actually he had no idea what that would have accomplished now that he thought about it. Was he trying to find some possible reason for his father to kill this senator? That it was for the greater good?

In the bottom of his heart, Gohan hoped that was the reason. He wished the Ox King was some corrupted piece of trash that needed to be removed. Or that he was responsible for some innocent person's death. Just anything that didn't make his father a cold-blooded killer.

Gohan took a deep breath and held it for several moments before letting it out. He needed to calm himself down. It was likely nothing would change the stark truth, but he could hope; he could always hope.

Okay, what to do now? If he was going to continue researching Senator King—or was it Senator Ox-King?—he needed a better source of information. The internet wasn't any use, so what would be a better source? Short of actually calling the guy up, Gohan couldn't think of…

Huh, call him up. Perhaps that was an option. Maybe if he talked with the senator he could learn more about him. Yeah, yeah, he could do that. Clicking on his internet icon, Gohan patiently waited for the window to open before typing in Senator King's web address. It took a second before the familiar page popped up, a cut out of the senator from the shoulders up with the man smiling. He was superimposed on the left side of the country's flag, the bottom of it fading into a royal blue. In the middle of the page was a bunch of links that led to webpages related to the senator. None of that was what Gohan was looking for though. Scrolling down to the bottom of the page, he found a list of contact information, specifically a mail address, email address, fax number, and phone number.

Standing up, Gohan took a couple steps to his kitchen counter, where his cell phone, wallet, and two sets of keys—his keys and his father's spare set—lay. Snatching up his phone, he went back and sat down in front of his computer, flipping open his phone and dialing in the phone number.

Once he pushed in call, Gohan put the phone to his ear and waited as he heard the familiar ring. It was about the fourth ring when someone picked up. "You've reached the offices of Senator Herman Ox-King. How can I help you?"

So that's how you pronounced his name. Good to know. "Uhh, yes, is there anyway I can speak with the Senator? I have something important to discuss with him."

"And what is it you wish to speak about with the senator?"

Before Gohan spoke, a thought popped into his head. What did he want to talk about with this man? That the senator was on a hit list? That he was wondering if the man was a bad guy? Ox-King would want to know how he found out about the potential attempt on his life. None of those looked good for Gohan.

Okay, okay, he needed…he needed….he needed to end the call. "Oh uhh, did you say Ox-King? I'm sorry, I'm calling for…uhh, Ox-Sing…ing. I think I have a wrong number."

"That's okay Sir. Happens all the time."

"Sorry again. Umm, bye." And with that, Gohan hung up, closing his phone with a loud clap. "Oh Kami, really? Ox-Singing?" the young man criticized out loud. "Ugh."

Placing his phone on the table, Gohan turned in his seat so he could lean forward, his elbows resting on his knees as he ran his fingers through his spiky hair. He could feel his face burning from embarrassment. Closing his eyes, the young man focused on his breathing, trying to calm it down. He was so not up to this mystery stuff.

"Okay, okay, I need to stop with the senator. Now what?" Now that was a good question. Gohan hadn't planned much further than researching Ox-King. He hadn't even considered that lead becoming a dead end. That was stupid on his part.

But what was done was done. Alright, what other leads did he have? The file was a no go and neither was the money. Tracking cash was damn near impossible and the same with the multiple passports. Oh right! He had those business cards! How Gohan had forgotten those, he had no idea.

Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the cards and laid them out in a line on the table. What do we have, what do we have? Gohan studied each card one at a time. There was a card for a bank, a doctor, a lawyer—that one belonged to Roshi—and oddly enough, a flower store. And…a thrift shop? The first three Gohan could understand having, but why would his father have visited stores with flowers and used clothes?

Ignoring the other cards, Gohan picked up the thrift store card. "Krillen's Just-4-U Thrift Shop," he murmured. Flipping the card over, the young man saw only a blank backside, causing him to turn it over to the front once more. "I think I need to pay you a visit."

-

The thrift store wasn't in a good part of town. Most of the buildings looked decrepit, covered with graffiti and broken windows. Trash drifted about the street as the wind pushed it around seemingly at random. Shady-looking people walked up and down the sidewalks, passing up cars that were parted on the side of the road.

Gohan was standing in front of the store, its dirty surface staring at him. A large, orange sign proclaiming KRILLEN'S JUST-4-U THRIFT SHOP in blue paint hung above the front door.

The young man let out a sigh. He wasn't sure what he was expecting here, other than the contents of a typical thrift shop. Though if what he suspected was true, this wasn't an ordinary shop: it was a front for his father's assassin activities. His father would stop in here for some service involved in his job. What that service was, Gohan hoped to find out.

But how? He doubted the man inside would just roll out the red carpet and tell him everything he wanted to know. There had to be some sort of code or password that would open the storeowner up. Or…maybe he was over-thinking this. Perhaps it was easier than he thought.

No, no, it was a better idea to over-think it. Gohan didn't want a repeat of his phone call to Ox-King. Alright, what would his father say in this situation?

A few moments passed before Gohan realized he had no idea what the man would say. He didn't know until recently Goku's involvement in the assassin trade. Just great, now what did he do?

"Well, might as well go in," the young man said to himself. It wasn't like he was going to embarrass himself horribly…again. Oh boy, it was going to be a long day with those kind of thoughts.

Taking a deep breath, Gohan walked up to the door and pushed it open. A small bell chimed as the door brushed up against it, signally the entrance of a customer. Entering the building, Gohan let the door close behind him and took in the sight before him. It was a dingy sort of place with shelves of clothes lining the walls as filled clothes racks were placed all over the floor. To the Son man, it didn't look like a place an assassin would go for a contact. Perhaps that was the point of it.

To his left was a long wooden counter, a cash register resting on top of the counter. There was a doorway behind the wooden structure with a thin drape hanging over it. Gohan figured that must have been a backroom to the store that only employees were allowed into. All in all, he didn't see much of anything special with this place. Perhaps this was just another dead end.

That was when a short bald man walked into the room, entering from the backroom doorway as he brushed passed the drape. Upon seeing Gohan, the man grimaced and greeted "What can I do for you?"

Gohan just stared at the man and his shabby-looking clothes. They looked to be too small on the guy and considering how short he was…well...

Shaking his head, Gohan returned the greeting. "Umm, yeah. I was looking for some…" Taking a look about the store, he figured he couldn't go wrong with the obvious. "Some clothes."

"What would you be needing them for, if you don't mind me asking."

Okay, that wasn't something Gohan was expecting. He figured the little man would look at him like he was an idiot and direct him to the rest of the store. "Oh, I have a…uhh…project coming up and…I…I'm looking for some clothes to…umm, to get dirty in."

The man continued to stare at Gohan before he nodded his head in satisfaction. "I think Ol' Krillen might be able to help you."

Gohan blinked his eyes. "Who's that?"

Now the little man gave him the idiot look. "I am."

"Oh, sorry. I was expecting someone…uhh…"

"Taller?" the man deadpanned.

Well, if he was going to put it that way. "Yeah."

Krillen muttered something under his breath, something Gohan half-expected was a curse or insult directed towards him. "I get that a lot," he eventually said before waving Gohan behind the counter and walking towards the drape. Not sure what was going on, Gohan carefully made his way to the back door, following Krillen into the next room.

What he found was a set of stairs heading downward towards the basement. Krillen was already making his way down, so Gohan quickly followed him. The wooden stairs creaked and groaned as they set their weight on them, though they held firm. At the bottom was a shut door, a small metal keypad hanging from the wall next to it. An alarm went off inside the Son man's head. That keypad, it looked out of place. It was far too sleek to be in such a rundown building.

In the meantime, Krillen punched in a set of numbers, a small green light lighting up immediately. A clicking sound was made and the short man opened the door and walked in, holding it open for Gohan. Unconsciously holding his breath, Gohan entered the room and nearly felt his heart stop.

Inside was a large, sterile, well-lit metal room stocked with all sorts of weapons. Guns, rocket launchers, grenades, you name it, it was here, sitting on display stands lining the walls. There were boxes and crates resting in the middle of the room, the butts of rifles, shotguns and rocket launchers sticking out of them. It was as if someone was building a small armory for the next world war or potential zombie apocalypse. Gohan could feel his hands trembling from the sight of it all.

A rough coughing sound was made next to him, waking Gohan from his daze. Focus, you can't act suspicious here. This man could kill you if he suspects something. Straightening out his posture, Gohan forged on into the room, pretending to analyze the weapons, contemplating the ones he should take.

Despite the brave front he was putting up, his thoughts were far away from the machine gun he found himself staring at. How the heck had he found himself in a place like this? Seriously, how did he get here? One moment he was in a dead end, the next he was surrounded by enough weapons of death to satisfy a terrorist organization for six months. That conversation he had with this Krillen guy couldn't have led him here.

But it did. By some weird stretch of the imagination, it did. Minding to move onto another weapon—this one a pistol of some sort—Gohan thought back to the conversation he had just had. He was sure nothing in his words would have, could have led him down here. All he had said was that he was looking for some clothes and that he could get dirty in them. What was so special about that? Those sentences were so innocuous, anyone could have said them. Anyone!

Wait, wait, wait, wait. Perhaps that was it. Perhaps those words and sentences were a sort of password, one that no one would suspect yet vague enough to insinuate anything to eavesdropping ears. Regular customers would be looking for something specific, like a shirt or pants or shoes. Being vague with clothes wouldn't be something a regular person would use if they wanted something specific. Yeah, yeah, that had to be it!

Moving again, Gohan found himself in front of something different now. Instead of a gun, he found fiberglass boxes filled glass tubes, each tube filled with some kind of liquid. If the young man hadn't known any better, he would have said those looked…

No, he did know better! Gohan could feel his heart sink into his stomach. These were the vials of poison he had found in that lockbox! They had the same labels and everything from the skull-and-crossbones logo to the name of the substance next to it. This was where his father had gotten them! Oh lord, ohhhh lord, Goku had been here before. Oh boy. And most likely many times too. Okay Gohan, stay calm. Stay calm. You can't afford to freak out right now.

"So, if you don't mind me asking," Krillen suddenly spoke up then, "what sort of job are you pulling?"

Okay, don't panic, Gohan thought. Just be vague like earlier. "Got a big target," he answered.

"Big huh? How big?"

Gohan's mind frantically searched for a suitable answer. Unfortunately, the only thing that kept flashing in his mind was the folder he had found listing Senator Ox-King as a target. With nothing else coming to mind, he settled on "A couple of oxen."

Silence filled the room, causing Gohan to feel some sweat break across his forehead. Taking in slow, deep breaths, he chanced a look at Krillen and found the man with a confused look on his face. The young man wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

"Is something wrong?" he asked, prodding the man.

Krillen shook his head. "No, not at all. It's not often I come across a second job on the same target is all. How bad did the first guy screw up?"

So Krillen didn't know how the assassin missions went. Oh what luck that was! Thank you Kami, thank you. Gohan returned to looking at the "merchandise," moving onto the next set. "Bad enough to not try his way again," Gohan replied. Then as an afterthought, "Got any suggestions?"

"Well, I think the first guy went with poisons, so you'd probably want to skip that. Any thoughts of the way you want to finish the job?"

Now this was getting awkward. "I'm…open to suggestion…" Gohan spoke.

"Try suffocating him with a pillow," Krillen suggested. "Just be sure not to leave any prints behind."

"That might work," Gohan relented, trying his best not to jump at the suggestion. "Got any gloves I could use?"

Krillen silently walked to the other side of the room, opening a drawer and digging into it. A moment later he turned around and tossed a pair of leather gloves to Gohan. "Try these out."

Pulling them on, the gloves fit snugly around his hands. Flexing his fingers open and close, Gohan nodded his appreciation and said "These'll work."

"Good. Anything else?"

Looking about the room again, Gohan felt his eyes fall onto the pistol. Walking over to it, he picked it up and grabbed a couple of loaded clips. "I'll take this too, in case something goes wrong." He paused as another thought occurred to him. Getting a gun that was loud went completely against quietly smothering a man. A gun was so deafening, he'd be alerting everyone to his presence. Wait, wasn't there something that could reduce the noise? Yeah, yeah, the movies always showed some thing that went on the barrel of the gun. What was that thing called again? Oh right! A silencer! "Got any silencers?"

"In the drawer by your knees."

Taking a step back, Gohan found two levels of drawers beneath the display stand the pistol was on. Pulling open the top one, Gohan found several open boxes in side, the leftmost one holding several silencers inside of it. Grabbing one, Gohan turned his back to Krillen, so the man couldn't see him fumbling with the metal tube as he attempted to screw it onto the gun barrel. It took a couple of tries, but he finally got it on. "This will do," he finally said as he pretended to admire his handiwork.

"How about a knife? You might need that too."

"Sure." Gohan lowered the gun down, unscrewing the silencer. Turning his head, he found a display stand on the other side of the room. Walking over to it, the young man marveled at the different shapes and sizes there were. Some were tiny, the blades no bigger than the size of his index finger; others were gigantic and mean-looking. In fact, those looked like they wanted to cut you just by looking at them.

Shaking his head so he could focus better, Gohan considered his position. He was pretending to be an assassin trying to do a quiet job. He needed to get his act together. Picking up one of the thinner knifes, he acted as if he knew what he was doing, testing the weight of the knife before setting it down. Grabbing the one next to it—this one having a slightly thicker blade—he again tested the weight before nodding his head in satisfaction. "I'll take this one too."

"Great. Just give me your ID and I'll bill the agency."

Oh crap. Crap, crap, crap. How was he going to get out of this one? Gohan didn't have an ID or anything this guy was looking for! Heck, he didn't even know what the ID was! Was it a name or a number? This wasn't going to end well, nope, not at all.

Gohan fretted. What could he do; what could he do? He was in so much shit and this wasn't the kind that could be brushed off. He wanted out of here, needed to get out of here. The room was becoming stifling. He couldn't breathe. Oh Kami, he was having a panic attack. This had to be one right? Of course it had to be, he was about to die in his room full of freaking weapons!

"C'mon now, I don't have all day," Krillen said annoyed. Then he grumbled "You're almost as bad as Kakarot."

Kakarot? Who the heck was that? Wait, that was it! "Just put it on the first guy's ID," Gohan said. "It's the least he could do for messing up."

Krillen chuckled at that. "I'm not supposed to do that, you know." Crossing his arms in front of his chest, he took a deep breath before looking up to the ceiling, releasing that same breath. "But since you are having to clean up after him, I guess I can look the other way this one time."

Gohan felt relief flood throughout his system. Oh, yes. Yes, yes, yes. This was his luckiest day by far. He wouldn't be surprised at all if he had used up his lifetime allotment of luck here. Not that he was complaining—any day you dodge death was a day worth spending all your luck.

With nothing left to say, Gohan just made his way to the stairs, not even acknowledging Krillen as he left his the room. Apparently that was how the other assassins did it too as Krillen didn't seem to mind his hasty exit. The creaking stairs didn't give Gohan any pause as he climbed them, blowing through the drape at the top and into the main room. However, as he walked around the check-out counter and closed in on the exit, the door swung open and ringing the bell.

Gohan froze. A young man stood in front of him, staring back at Gohan pretty much the same way he felt he was looking back at the young man. Why the young man was staring at him, Gohan didn't know, but he knew he had a good reason to stare at this guy. He looked exactly like his father, smaller and thinner to be sure, but he had the same face and wild hair style. It was as if the world had stopped turning.

And then the young man spoke. "I know you."


	4. Chapter 4

**And another chapter brought to you by ShadowMajin**

The protests of the leather booth seat added to Gohan's discomfort as he sat there in the too cheerful looking diner, a family of three little boys with a weary mother and father speaking loudly behind him. He picked at the fraying edges of a crack that split the aged cow hide in a crude star-like pattern, but it was only one of many such cracks due to repeated use; it was something to be expected from a booth in a diner such as this one. Yet it wasn't the booth that was making the young man uncomfortable.

No. The award of awkwardness came from the man sitting directly across from him in the booth. Aside from having similar features to his late father—and boy was Gohan resisting the urge to call the man Dad—the young man was glaring at Gohan as if he had committed murder. He was at least a couple years younger than Gohan, maybe three or four tops. Yet his eyes, as hardened and cold as they were, seemed aged beyond his years.

Licking his dry lips, Gohan began preparing himself to try and say something, anything to break the heightening tension between them. Yet, whatever his words would have been died before they even had a chance to be uttered as that look...that stony, pissed off look on the guy made it quite clear that Gohan was not in control of this meeting. It was all on this mystery guy. He would start when he was good and ready. Unfortunately, Gohan wasn't sure if this guy would be ready sometime this decade.

Looking back on what happened, it had all happened so fast. Gohan had just managed to fake his way through buying killer weapons when he bumped into this Goku-lookalike at the front door. The man had froze in front of Gohan and said he knew him. Then he had grabbed Gohan by the arm and roughly dragged him to his rather expensive car, tossed him in the backseat, and drove off. Not even the man's assurance they were going to "just talk" had quelled the fear that had gripped Gohan.

Turned out the place they had gone to was a dinky, yet well-loved diner a few blocks away from the thrift store. A little relief had wormed its way into the Son man, the thought that he might not be killed lessening somewhat. But that glare had become a permanent fixture on this man's face. It hadn't even left when they had been seated and the waitress had taken their orders for coffee. Heck, the waitress had already brought them the coffees and still he just stared at Gohan.

It wasn't doing anything for Gohan's shattering nerves.

Wanting to simply do _something_ in this awful situation, the Son man reached out to his coffee cup and picked it up. He immediately noticed the cup ratting in his grasp, evident of his quaking hand. _Calm down, nothing's going to happen. You're just imagining…_ What? That his guy clearly didn't like him for some reason? That he was going into a thrift shop when the car he drove clearly said he had no reason to be shopping at the place, at least for the above-ground merchandise.

_Oh Lord, I am—_

"I've seen you before."

Gohan jumped, the coffee in his cup swishing wildly. Fortunately none of it spilled out. "Y-you have?"

The man crossed his arms across his chest and leaned back into the booth's backrest, the leather protesting the move as it gave a soft groan. His features had soften, but he was…mad? Seething about something? "Umm, I can't say I've seen you…" Gohan grasped at what to say next. "Specifically."

Gohan's words had no effect. "We've never been in the same place," the man eventually relented. "But I've seen a couple photos of you."

That made Gohan frown. "Where?"

"In some of my father's things."

_O…kay?_

"He died recently. I wasn't in town for the funeral, but I heard it was nice. His lawyer managed to look me up a couple days later. Said we had to go over his last will and testament."

"And there were a couple pictures of me in his stuff?"

"Oh yeah." The man leaned towards him, his eyes sharpening on Gohan. "He was really interested in you."

And this was becoming creepy. That bad feeling was coming back with a vengeance. "I have no idea why," Gohan managed to get out. "Perhaps you could tell me who your father was? It might help us figure out what your father's interest—"

"Goku," the man interrupted. "His name was Son Goku."

Time came to a screeching halt. Gohan could feel nothing, see nothing, hear nothing. Just the echoing of his father's name was ringing in his ears. His brain was numb, unable to process that name, its implication, or the man in front of him. "Wh…what?"

"Son Goku," the man repeated. "And that makes you…Son Gohan."

_Oh Kami._

"And I'm…Son Goten. We're brothers, you and I."

"Go…ten?"

A small smile appeared on Goten's face, one that Gohan had seen on his father's face many a time, usually when he was being patient when Gohan was struggling with his school work. Then the smile vanished as that cold exterior returned in full force. "I didn't think I'd find you so quickly," he growled harshly. "Our father, he made it sound like it would be hard to track you down—that you're some kind of genius or something." Goten's voice changed then. It came out more aggressive, searching even. "You know, he always seemed disappointed with me, like I wasn't living up to some kind of expectation of his. I never understood why until…until I read his will. He told me about you and it all made sense."

Whereas Goten seemed to fit a giant puzzle piece into the puzzle Goku had left for him, Gohan had no idea what was going on? A brother? He had a living, breathing brother? But how? His mother had died when he was a child! And yet here was this guy who resembled Goku too much to ignore. It was as if Goku had another family he kept away from Gohan, much like his secret day job. But why? What was the point of this? Why would his father keep him away from family? Why keep them separated for so long? It…it made no sense. None at all! This…this revelation was huge, gigantic even—and so much larger than his job as a killer.

Oh Kami, what other secrets did Goku have?

"I…what…I don't…" Gohan stumbled helpless.

"Trouble swallowing the truth?" Goten asked…no, mocked. His tone was full of derision. "Then let me help out. Tell me if this sounds familiar: you spent a childhood where your father was gone for long periods of time. He always dropped in unannounced, yet you didn't care—you were just happy to see him. When ever you asked him where he went, he always said…"

Slowly, the volume of his brother's voice softened until Gohan couldn't hear it. Instead, a familiar voice was echoing in his head, bringing back words he hadn't heard in what felt like an eon.

_"Daddy! You're back!"_

_"Hey, Gohan. Missed me?"_

_"A whole lot! Where did you go?"_

_"It's nothing for you to worry about."_

Goten paused, giving Gohan a moment to soak it in. Unfortunately, Gohan needed a lot more than a moment—more like an infinite number of them. Goten, however, wasn't going to get that to him. "And you don't care. Daddy's home, that's all that matters. But then you get older. And you ask him what he does for a living, you know, for a school project. But—"

"He never answers," Gohan interrupted.

Goten slammed his hand on the table, causing everything on top of it to rattle. "_Don't_…interrupt me," he warned, then calmed just as suddenly. "But yes, he never answered that question. I take it this does sound familiar to you."

Gohan slowly nodded his head. "Yeah. Yeah, it does."

A look appeared on Goten's face, the same one that appeared on his face when he had revealed his identity. This time though, it looked as if he were hiding something, dangling it over Gohan's head like a carrot. "I eventually found out what he was doing though. How about you?"

Gohan swallowed hard. Did this guy also know Goku's past? "I…found something," he acknowledged.

"Oh? And what did you find out?"

Every nerve and fiber of Gohan's being was shouting for him not to divulge any more that he knew. Yet, Gohan had the feeling that if he was less than truthful with this man, it would end badly. Hesitantly, he said "He…I think…I think he was an assassin of some sort."

That smug look on Goten's face vanished. "You…you know?" This time it was his turn to be nervous.

Gohan paused at that. That arrogant attitude his self-proclaimed brother had disappeared in an instant. This whole time he had been shaking in fear with this guy, but now that he saw him unguarded, Gohan couldn't help the satisfaction that welled up inside of him. And this was the way he needed to keep the conversation if he wanted to make it out of this alive.

Steeling his nerves, Gohan picked up his coffee cup once more. Unlike the previous time, he managed to bring the cup to his lips without a single rattle. He was doing a happy dance in his head at that, though he did his best not to show how pleased he was on his face. "I found a few things," the Son man said evenly, taking a sip from his cup of black coffee a moment later. _Ugh, bitter._ No wonder he preferred cream in his.

"And what did you find?" Goten warily asked.

Hmm, how much should he tell him? Obviously not everything, but Gohan needed to at least give out enough evidence that his conclusion was acceptable. Who knows, Goten may give him more proof about what their father had been up to all this time—besides having a second family and a secret job, of course. Or wait, would he be considered the second family?

"I found out my…our father had been given a job to…uhh…" Glancing about, Gohan saw that he and Goten had been placed in the corner of the diner, far away from any eavesdroppers. Obviously a choice by Goten's. Still, one could never be too careful. Leaning forward, he whispered "To kill someone."

Goten seemed to catch on to what Gohan was doing and also leaned forward, dropping the volume of his voice as well. "And the target, it was that Senator guy, right?"

Gohan nodded. "Ox-King."

"And you figured out why he was being targeted?"

This time Gohan shook his head. "No, I haven't. I…I tried looking him up and found nothing that could convince me why he would be targeted."

Goten slumped at that. "Damn," he muttered.

Seeing as his brother wasn't going to give him anymore information freely, Gohan decided to steer the conversation that way. "How did you find out about our father?"

Goten seemed like he was caught off-guard by that question. He recovered a moment later as he calmed his features. "A couple weeks. At this, he reached beneath the table and into his pocket. He seemed to be searching for something and eventually pulled out a laminated card and set it on the table. Taking a look, Gohan found it to be a press badge with Goten's picture and a bunch of text on it. "I work for the Blue Star Tribune. I was finishing up a story on alleged voter fraud when I found information linking our dad to a murder. I did some follow up work on it and it led me to the thrift shop we met at."

That seemed like a logical story, Gohan mused. A journalist, hmm, he didn't expect that sort of job for his brother. Though considering he was delving into a dark world, perhaps he shouldn't be as surprised to find that someone else was also searching for answers like him. Still, it didn't quite explain his brother's reaction at the store. "So what was the deal with you dragging me here and yelling at me?"

A sheepish look appeared on Goten's face as he raised an arm to scratch the back of his head. A pang ripped through Gohan's chest as he recognized the gesture, one that his father had used on occasion. It was all the more eerie since Goten resembled Goku so much. "Oh, sorry about that. Pent up anger and all. I guess I was taking some of it out on you."

"Yeah…I guess," Gohan murmured. He could hardly blame him for that. It seemed Goten was somewhat neglected by their father, though Gohan was too to an extent. They both were sitting in the same boat, though Goten was more vocal about his feelings. Gohan on the other hand was becoming more and more overwhelmed with every step he took.

"You mind telling me what you were doing at that store?" Goten spoke up, a friendly expression on his face.

Startled, it took Gohan a moment to understand what had been asked of him. "Oh, um, I guess you could say I was following a lead there." He sighed then. "I found more than I bargained for."

"What did you find?" Goten asked as he leaned towards him.

There was no point in hiding it, considering his brother would find out eventually. He was a journalist after all. "A basement full of every weapon imaginable. Guns, knives, poisons—you want to kill someone, they have every method you could ever want to use down there."

Goten's eyes lit up before they narrowed. "You're not pulling my leg, are you?" he all but demanded.

"Nope. Totally serious."

Goten leaned back in his seat and fell into thought, which was alright with Gohan. He also had some things to muddle through, none of them being pleasant. Eventually, Goten broke their silence. "It seems we're both chasing similar stories," he said warily. "Different ones, but they follow the same path. So that made me think: if we're going down the same path, why shouldn't we help each other? I mean, it would make sense since I have information that you don't while you have information I don't. We can compare notes and see where that takes us."

"I guess it wouldn't hurt," Gohan replied hesitantly. He didn't really know this guy and his impression of him was all over the place. Was he the mean version he first met or this seemingly-nice version he was now. Still, he did raise a good point about them going in the same direction. If Goten was the journalist he claimed to be—the Blue Star Tribune was a highly-respected newspaper—then Gohan could make some serious headway. Goten might even have sources that were involved in this seedy underworld he found himself in. This could really work in his favor.

Yet there was something off about him, Gohan could feel it. A gut feeling that refused to go away. It was a foreign feeling to him, one he hadn't felt around anyone before.

Well, actually he had felt it before. It was back when he was little when he found himself in the company of a strange man. His father had come to his rescue in such a rage. It was the only time Gohan could remember his father being angry, anger that was reminiscent of Goten's early outburst. There wasn't much else Gohan could recall of that incident, but it was definitely the last time he had lived with his mother, Kami rest her soul.

"Are you okay? Goten spoke up, interrupting Gohan's musings. "You don't seem to be too sure about this."

Gohan bit his bottom lip nervously. He had to make a decision; it was now or never. "I…I'm in."

A smile appeared on Goten's lips. "Great. Let's get on this."

"Okay. What do we do now?"

"Let's go to my motel room. We can use it as a base of operations." Goten leaned to aside as he reached behind him and to his back pocket. Pulling out his wallet, he opened it and took out a few bills and casually tossed them onto the table. "That should cover the coffee." Moving out of the booth then, he stood up and looked to Gohan and asked "You ready?"

"Yeah, yeah, just um…could we go pick up my car first?"

"Oh, sure. Where did you leave it?"

"By the thrift store." By now, Gohan was also sliding out of the booth.

"Okay, I'll drop you off at your car and then you can follow me to the motel. As Gohan stood next to him, Goten reached up and grabbed the older Son man's shoulder, giving it a comforting squeeze. "I never imagined I'd be getting to know my long-lost brother over a routine story."

Gohan chuckled nervously. "Yeah, I guess stranger things have happened, right?"


	5. Chapter 5

**This long chapter is brought to you by ShadowMajin.**

The sound of running water filled the small, clean motel room. Gohan paced, glancing around. Aside from the ugly orange, brown, and white patterned wallpaper, it was a rather nice set up. Stopping, he moved to sit at the foot of one of the two queen-sized beds, and looked towards the dresser where a large, bulky television set sat on top of it. Since the TV remotes were still on the dresser, Gohan assumed Goten hadn't bothered using the set since he moved in.

Once they had arrived at the room, Goten had gone straight to his large suitcase, the one currently resting against the wall next to the bed Gohan was sitting on. His brother had then gone into the bathroom near the front door and had begun taking a shower. Said that he needed to clean up, though what he needed to clean from Gohan had no idea and only served to make him somewhat anxious.

The sound of running water spraying from the shower suddenly stopped sounding throughout the small motel room, signally the end to Goten's shower. Looking towards the bathroom, Gohan waited patiently for Goten to finish drying off and enter the room with his legs jiggling up and down nervously. It was a few minutes before Goten opened the bathroom door and walked in, clothed in a bulky, white robe and drying his hair by rubbing a towel over his head.

"Thanks for waiting," Goten said as he moved to the other bed, taking a seat on it and facing Gohan. "I really needed that shower."

"I guess you did," Gohan agreed, though saying it was only to bridge the conversation to what he really wanted to know. "So what do we do now?"

"Well, we're both following our father at the moment. I suggest we start there. As far as we both know, he was on an assignment to kill Ox-King. As far as your research has shown, there's no reason why Ox-King was being targeted for assassination."

"What about you?" Gohan asked. "Do you know anything about Ox-King that would put a target on him?"

Goten shook his head as he finished drying his hair with the white towel. "No. I've done a couple stories on him in the past, but like you I never found any dirty laundry tied to him, and believe me I tried. The guy is as squeaky clean as they come." Suddenly, Goten's head perked up. "Which reminds me, I still have to do my job here." Getting up from the bed, Goten walked over to his suitcase and began digging in it. A moment later, he pulled out a large manila folder. Moving back to the bed to sit on it, he opened the folder and began piling out a thick stack of paper. Looking up to Gohan and seeing his quizzical expression, the younger Son man explained "In order for me to come here, I had to convince my editor to let me go. Since Ox-King was going to be in town this week —for some public relation thing with this districts senator— he told me I had to do a story on the senator."

"Oh," Gohan said. That made more sense. Goten had a job, just like him, but apparently he didn't have as many sick days saved up like Gohan. It seemed they were going to have to work around Goten's job while they investigated. "So do we need to get your story out of the way before we dig further into our father?"

"Oh, we don't have…" Goten trailed off, pausing to consider Gohan's suggestion. "Actually, that would work out better for us. Once this dumb story is out of the way, we can put all of our focus on Dad and what he was up to. In fact," here a wide, devilish smirk crawled onto Goten's face. "We might even be able to use this story as a way to get to Ox-King and maybe he can spill some dirt."

"That could work," Gohan agreed, nodding his head slowly before looking at the manila folder and the paper on top, trying to read whatever it said. "Is there anyway you can get another press—"

"No, wait," Goten interrupted, sounding put off as he closed the folder and crossed his arms with a frown. "I forgot, Ox-King has me blacklisted. No way can I get in the same room with him, much less ask him a question." Upon seeing Gohan giving him a curious look, he explained further, "I had a couple run-in's with his security detail. They're not completely happy with the freedom of the press thing, so they put me on a list of people that can't see the Senator."

Gohan's shoulder sagged distraughtly. "So now what do we do?"

"We'd have to do things in a roundabout way," Goten said after a moment's silence. Focusing on Gohan, he said "You'll have to go in alone. Get into a conversation with him."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Gohan said loudly. "Send in me? Why? I mean, I have no idea what you want to know from this guy. I'm not a reporter so I have no idea what to ask him!"

"Don't worry your socks off, it's not that hard," Goten reassured him. I'll give you a list of questions to ask him. All you will have to do is remember a few of them to ask him."

"But what about his answers? How am I going to remember those?"

Goten grimaced. "Good point. And it's not like you can go in wearing a wire either. They check for those things." He paused then before he shot up from the bed and scrambled over to the closet. Swinging the door open, he kneeled down and began digging in there for something.

Staring, something odd struck Gohan. Slowly turning his head away from Goten, he stared at his suitcase. Why was that sitting in this room instead of the closet? That's where the suitcase usually went, right? It made no sense to leave it out in the room and put something else hidden in the closet.

"Aha!" Goten shouted before reappearing. In one of his hands was a small plastic bag and in the other hand was a small black thing. Instinctively, Gohan narrowed his eyes to focus on the thing between Goten's thumb and index finger.

"We can use these," Goten said as he moved back to the bed. "These are microphones we can place in the room. That way we can record everything you and Ox-King say."

That…that could work. Nor was it that much of a leap to suggest a reporter might have such tools. Gohan could imagine getting some stories were difficult. Now with these microphones, this plan was coming together better than he thought it would have. "So how do we get the microphones into the room?"

"Hmm, it might be too risky to try and get the bugs in there. It'd be easier to place them by a window on the outside." Lowering his hand, Goten continued, "That might be our best course of action. You get Ox-King by the window I plant these bugs and keep him there until your interview ends."

Gohan went from liking the plan to being hesitant about it again. "You sure that'll work?"

"Yeah, no sweat. Now let me get into some clothes and we'll go scout out for our window. Then we'll rehearse the questions you need to ask. Don't worry, this will all be a piece of cake."

Gohan snuck a glance at himself in the glass as he walked sideways next to the building the Ox-King was currently residing in. A nice pair of slacks? Check. A button-up white dress shirt tucked into slacks? Check. A black belt? Check. A nice pair of black shoes? Check. A black necktie that was doing its best to choke Gohan alive? Ohhhh, double check.

Swallowing as best he could, Gohan wasn't sure if his action was hindered by his tie or the fact that he was the most nervous he had ever been in his life. Tasked with striking up a conversation with a senator, the young man was out of his mind with anxiety. What if something went wrong? Why if he couldn't get the senator by the bugged window? What if he didn't even get a chance to talk about the senator? It was all so much, it threatened to overwhelm Gohan as the bellman opened the door for him and he entered the elegant building.

Walking down a dark red carpeted floor, Gohan clutched at a small notepad and pen. It was to complete the image of him being a reporter as his fake press badge indicated. Goten had been able to take one of his old ones and…modify it…to serve their purposes. He neared the security checkpoint, brow beading with sweat, and trying to be as casual as possible flashed the badge as he set his material on the table and was patted down. The bulky security men waved him through and hastily he grabbed his things and continued forward.

So far so good. Trying to steal his nerves he looked down at his notepad where several questions were written down in his neat handwriting—just so Gohan knew what to ask the senator, a revelation by Goten that had brought some relief. As a rookie reporter—in every sense of the title—it would have been weird had he not had a couple questions prewritten.

As he walked down the hall he was in -white walls decorated with a few portraits of men he had no idea their identity- Gohan couldn't help but feel like he didn't belong. Being inside a building used as an office for an elected official was not the sort of place he was used to being in. It was more for the likes of Goten or the Great Saiyaman's alter ego. Yeah, that's right, he read that comic book. He practically idolized that comic book series. Though there were many people that didn't like Saiyaman's perchance for doing silly poses, Gohan loved every single thing the hero did. He was the personification of cool.

Now all Gohan needed was his own version of Saiyaman's snarky reporter partner, Bidel, and everything would be perfect. Unfortunately, he was alone.

Gohan came to a stop, blinking bewilderedly. Looking around him, he realized that he was literally alone. There wasn't any other person in the hall with him. Was he going the right way? Closing his eyes, he recalled last night, when he and Goten had snuck up to the building. They had found where the office was from the outside and placed the tiny microphones next to the window. Goten had then told Gohan how he would get the office, pointing at various places of the building and telling him what section was what. He had definitely mentioned a hallway leading up to the office, of that Gohan was sure.

Opening his eyes, he stared at a wooden door at the end of the hall. Was that the door he needed to go to? Well, there was only one way to find out. If he didn't show up to the office eventually, some security guy would assuredly show up to help him either find the office or out of the building. At this point, Gohan wasn't sure which option he preferred.

Taking a deep breath, Gohan steeled his nerves and walked up to the door, grabbing the door knob and turning it. On the other side of the door he found a small room with a desk on the opposite side from him and a couple of chairs and couches strategically placed about the room. There was a woman sitting behind the desk, a brunette, and a pretty one at that. She looked up to Gohan and smiled. "How can I help you?"

"Oh, hi," Gohan replied nervously. "Umm, I have an appointment with the senator."

"Oh, you're the ten o' clock, right? Please have a seat and I'll let Senator Ox-King know you're here."

Nodding politely, Gohan immediately sat in one of the chairs. After a few moments, he glanced about the room and wondered why he didn't see any more security guards. You would have never thought that someone was after the senator's life with the lack of guards around. Then again, it was likely that no one other than Gohan and Goten knew about it. Yet, his father had been tasked with doing the deed. Since Krillen had said Goku had failed, Gohan took it that Goku had actually tried to kill Ox-King, but didn't succeed. It hadn't crossed his mind that Goku could have failed before even putting his plan into action.

"The senator will see you now," the secretary said, causing Gohan to look at her. Seeing as she was still seated at her desk, she must have used some intercom to alert the senator to his arrival. Nodding his thanks to her, Gohan stood up and walked across the red carpeted floor and up to another wooden door next to the secretary's desk. Opening it, the Son man walked into a larger room, this one looking much like the rest of the building, from the walls, to the portraits, to the carpet. Even the furniture was the same, including the large desk that was situated on the opposite side of the room. However, Gohan's attention immediately went to the window to the right of the desk. That was the one Goten and he had bugged. That was the window he needed to lure the senator towards.

Speaking of which…

Turning his attention away from the window and to the desk, he found the largest man he had ever seen sitting behind it. It was almost comical to see such a large body in such a large suit sitting there, looking at him kindly and patient. His scruffy beard seemed to add to his charm, though the little ox horns sticking out of his hat seemed pointless. Immediately, Gohan felt like he could like this man.

"Hello Senator Ox-King," Gohan greeted him, just like he had rehearsed with Goten last night. "I'm Paul Kay from the Blue Star Tribute. Thank you for your time."

"It's no problem," Ox-King returned his greeting jovially. It was a deep, calming voice, much like one you would expect to hear from a grandfather. "It's a pleasure to meet you. Now, what is it I can do for you?"

"I just have a few questions for you concerning your…" here Gohan paused to look at his notepad, looking at his handwriting scrawled on it.

However, Ox-King spoke up before he could continue. "An interview I see. I'm guessing you're new to your paper."

Gohan gave him a weak smile. "How did you guess?"

"Believe me, I've met many a journalist in my day. New ones, old ones, good ones, and bad ones. So, what sort of questions do you have?"

Walking towards the bugged window, Gohan asked "What is your reason for visiting our fair city here, meeting with your old friend Senator Gohan?" At that, Gohan paused before looking at the question he had just read off. Seriously, his representative had his first name as a last name? So that's what his co-workers were talking about during the last election cycle. He really needed to pay more attention to the people running for office. He'd actually get around to voting one of these days.

"Oh, nothing too important," Ox-King answered, leaning back in his plush leather chair while resting his hands on his large, extended stomach. The man had rotated his chair to follow Gohan as he had moved across the room. Damn, how was he going to get that guy near the window now? "We were just discussing some upcoming legislation that we intend to introduce in the approaching legislative session."

"Mind telling me what that legislation is?"

"It's too early for me to give any specifics, so unfortunately I can't tell you."

It was as if Goten were whispering in his head at that moment. And his brother's voice came through Gohan's own as he said "The people have a right to know, Senator."

Ox-King seemed to flinch in his chair upon hearing that, frowning at Gohan. "Tell me, do you know a Son Goten at your paper?"

"Oh, umm, I've heard of him, but I've never had the chance to meet him," Gohan replied instantly. Unconsciously, he took a step away from Ox-King, moving to stand outside of the light shinning through the window. "He's a good reporter."

"He's a bit zealous," Ox-King said. "He's done a few stories on me, interviews and all. He always used that line when I wouldn't answer his questions to his specifications."

"I…I wouldn't know."

"Then please understand that I cannot give you the information you are looking for. How you move on to your next question, Mr. Kay?"

"I…I guess." Looking to his pad, he read the second question and then asked "How do you feel about the recently passed Malone-Engvall Bill?"

Ox-King stared at him for a moment before sighing. "Not the legislature's finest moments. That bill should have never left committee."

Gohan frowned at that. "What do you mean?"

Grimacing, Ox-King slowly pushed himself out of his chair and took a couple steps towards Gohan. Not quite to the window, but a couple steps away. "There were a few provisions in the bill that I didn't agree with. In fact, those provisions should be something every person should have been against."

"Uhh, wouldn't the people let you know if they were against the bill? I mean, these things—I mean, these bills are released for public…uhh…scrutiny."

"You really are new," the senator remarked. "This bill was never released to the public or the press. No one knew about it until we held a vote for it. It was completely rushed through and I doubt anyone has taken a look at it since."

"That…that doesn't sound right." Gohan was frowning now. He wasn't someone that followed politics religiously as his voting record attested to, but even he knew there were some protocols the government had to go through to pass bills into law. "Would you mind telling me about some of those provisions? Specifically the ones that you're against?"

Another sigh came from the senator. "Trust me, you don't want to know."

"The people have—"

"The right to know. I know." Ox-King then took a couple steps to go Gohan and placed his hand on his shoulder. "Unfortunately, the less everyone knows about this, the better off they'll be."

Gohan felt something was wrong, he could feel it. This man seemed to be a nice man as the smile on his face—no matter how uncomfortable it looked—indicated. In fact, he would have liked to get to know the man better when he wasn't trying to do his brother's work for him.

Before he could ask another question to keep the conversation going, the side of Ox-King's head exploded in a fountain of blood, larges drops splattering all over Gohan's face and shirt. The large man jerked away from the window and fell to the floor, lying there like a bloody, beached whale.

And all Gohan did was stare at the former senator with wide, terrified eyes.

It had been a wild couple of weeks for Goten. For Goku's untimely death, then running into his long lost brother he never knew he had—it was as if life was throwing a monkey wrench into his plans.

Two weeks ago everything had been fine. He was busy creating a new network of sources and contact to use while Goku had been on assignment. Next thing Goten knew, his father was dead, killed before he had ever had a chance to complete his mission. Since Goten had been in a whole other city, there was no way he could have attended the funeral like his mother had asked of him. She hadn't been happy about that excuse.

It was all messed up. Yet, Goten wasn't going to let his father's failure on the job reflect on his reputation. Taking in a deep breath of the cool, crisp air, Goten laid down on the roof of the building across from where Ox-King was. In front of him was a rifle, one he had just assembled out of a discarded, black case nearby. Holding it in place, Goten lifted up a scope and attached it to the top of the rifle, hearing the familiar click of the scope setting in. Sure that it was attached properly, he looked through the lens and began making adjustments to it, focusing it on the window he and Gohan had checked out last night.

It had been luck that he had found Gohan when he had. Stopping off at Krillen's store was routine, though Goten had every intent on not following Goku's attempt. If up close and personal wouldn't work, then long range would have to be it. Yet seeing the young man at the door had caused him to halt in his tracks.

In the will that Goku had left for him, he had mentioned there was something special with Gohan. Goku had always hinted at having some trump card over the years, but Goten had never figured out what that was. The will indicated it had something to do with Gohan though.

Goten couldn't see how that was though. From the moment they had met, Gohan had acted like a terrified child, damn near shaking in his boots from Goten's presence. Not to mention he seemed to be quite gullible considering Goten had instinctively lashed out at him. Goku was his father and had been more of one to him than he ever was to this Gohan person.

But then, right in the middle of his interrogation, Gohan had turned the tables on him. Gone was that stuttering coward and in his place was a confident man at peace with himself. In fact, he seemed to know more about what had been going on with Goku than he did. This raised the question of which version Gohan really was. Was he really out of his depth or was he just pretending to be? It was a good cover, Goten had to admit, one that no one would expect a threat to come from.

Perhaps that's what Goku had been getting at.

Still, there was some resentment. All of his life, Goku had seemed to be disappointed with Goten, as if he weren't living up to some unknown standard that Goku held for him. Goten never knew where that standard had come from. Heck, the only time Goku seemed proud of him was when he had mastered every tool a skilled assassin would need.

But with that will, everything seemed to make sense. If Gohan was who he thought he was, then it was no wonder Goten had been considered a disappointment. How could a person compete with a genius after all?

Still, there was something off about Gohan. Why would Goku keep him hidden away from his family for so long? Why pretend to have two different families? It didn't make sense. Goku…what were you planning?

Goten shook his head. Now's not the time for that. He had a job to do.

It seemed Goten had good timing as he noticed the glass of the window refracting movement from inside the building. A few seconds later and Goten saw Gohan move into sight, his body being marked over by the crosshairs in Goten's scope.

Who would have thought my own cover would be so useful? Goten hadn't been lying when he said he was a journalist. It was natural for a reporter to be around high-profile people, writing stories and what not on the latest tragedy. All he had to do was get his editor to send him to where he needed to go and he had a ready-made reason to be around his targets. Though, it had been Gohan's idea to use one of Goku's aliases for his own cover.

From what he could see through the scope, Gohan was talking to someone not visible to Goten; that had to be Ox-King. C'mon Gohan, get that guy in sight. C'mon now.

Gohan then took a step back for some reason, stepping out of Goten's sight. Shifting his body, Goten made himself more comfortable on the gravel of the rooftop, adjusting his grip on his sniper rifle around the base of the barrel. His other hand moved to a small switch and flicked it down, removing the safety and fully arming the gun.

Movement once more was refracted by the glass, a figure stopping just out of view from the window. Just a little closer now.

Finally, a large form appeared through the window, one Goten recognized immediately as Ox-King. Slowly, he shifted the rifle until the crosshairs of his scope were centered on Ox-King's head. "Gotcha."

Bang!

Suddenly, the window was covered with a thick layer of blood. There was a hole right in the glass where Ox-King's head had been, his body falling over to the floor. There was just one problem with that though.

Goten hadn't fired yet.

Instantly, Goten was crouched on his feet, aiming his rifle to his left, then his right, searching for who ever had shot that shot. There was someone else out there, another assassin. Where are they? Where are they!

Growling from the back of his throat, Goten knew he didn't have time to waste here. He had to get away before someone came investigating, not to mention he was also a sitting duck for the other assassin. They obviously had a sniper rifle with them and they could already have Goten in their crosshairs.

Lowering his gun, Goten grabbed the nearby black case and then hurried over to the roof entrance for this building. Juggling the case and gun into one arm, Goten swung the door open, rushed inside, then slammed the door shut behind him. Feeling much safer here, he kneeled down and placed the gun and case on the floor. Reaching behind him, he pulled out a pistol he had stashed in the waistband of his pants and also laid it on the floor in front of him. Opening the case, Goten then turned his full attention to the sniper rifle, disassembling it piece by piece efficiently and placing each piece into the case. There was a foam lining inside the case with shapes cut into it made specifically each part of the gun. Once the gun was securely placed in the case, Goten closed it and clicked the latches shut.

Picking up his gun and the case, Goten flew down the steps, rushing to get out of the building and to Gohan's car—it made more sense to bring his since Gohan was the one going to see the senator. All the while, he was seething in anger, mostly at himself. Stupid. Stupid! Of course there would be another assassin out here. After Goku screwed up the mission, the job pretty much became public to every competing company out there. Ox-King was fair game for everyone and someone claimed him before Goten had the chance.

Things just couldn't get any worse.

Gohan was numb. That was the only word that he could describe this feeling. A man had died right in front of him, half of his head blown away in an instant. Now he was just lying on the floor, not moving, leaking out slick, red blood and grey matter.

Why did this happen? What had happened? One moment Ox-King was smiling and the next he wasn't. It was only an instant, yet it felt like eons. Nothing was making sense.

The door to the office opened, the secretary poking her head in. "Is everything all…" she trailed off as her eyes dropped to Ox-King's body. A scream ripped out of the woman's lips as she jerked out of the door and back into the other room. Gohan could hear her continue to scream endlessly. Yet he did not move from where he stood. He wasn't sure how he could.

Eventually, men in expensive suits came rushing in, only pausing to look at Ox-King's prone form. One of them immediately looked to Gohan and advanced upon him with purpose. "What the hell happened here?" the man demanded.

Slowly, Gohan tore his eyes away from the senator and stared at the security agent blankly. "Wha?"

"I said, what happened here? You better tell me right now, or I swear I'll be throwing you behind bars!"

"I…I…" Gohan stuttered out. "We…were talking. Then…I don't know. I don't know." With every word Gohan spoke, the more desperate he sounded, hysterical even. "I don't know what happened!"

The man seemed taken back, but recovered quickly. Placing a hand on Gohan's shoulder he began guiding him out of the room. "Calm down son, calm down. I'm going to seat you in the lobby and you just wait there, okay?" As he continued to escort Gohan, he turned his head to another agent and said softly "This guy's a wreck; I doubt we'll be getting anything out of him. Find out who he is now."

The next thing Gohan knew, he was sitting on one of the couches in the lobby, barely registering the men walking in and out of Ox-King's office. He wasn't even entirely sure when he sat on that couch. Numbly, he took note of the secretary sitting behind her desk, man kneeling next to her as he tried to comfort her. Her face was stained with smear marks courtesy of her tears ruining her mascara.

"Sir?" a voice called out to Gohan. Turning his head, he found a man staring down at him. "May I have a word?"

Before Gohan could answer, another man appeared next to the first one and said "Not a good idea. This man is in shock. We should get him to the hospital to make sure he doesn't go catatonic on us."

The first man seemed reluctant, but eventually relented. "Fine. Make sure he doesn't leave. I'm ordering security on his room."

"Yes sir," the new man said before moving to Gohan and gently helped him stand up. "Come with me, Sir."

Gohan just nodded his head and let himself be guided out of the room and eventually the building. Before he knew it, he had been seated in the front passenger seat of a car. Staring at the dashboard, the Son man couldn't help but feel like he recognized it. In fact, the more he thought about it, it looked like the one in his car.

The driver's side door opened up and slammed a moment later. Turning his head, Gohan immediately saw Goten sitting in the driver's seat, sticking the car key into the ignition and turning it. The engine revved to life a moment later and they took off a second later. "Goten," Gohan spoke softly. "He's…he's…"

"Dead, I know," his brother finished for him. Glancing to him, he grimaced. "We need to get you to the motel and clean you up."

"Clean? Clean what?"

"You've…never mind. We just need to get out of here fast."

"Oh. Okay." Glancing down, Gohan saw something that made him frown. "Why are you wearing that suit?"

"It seemed appropriate at the time," Goten grumbled back. "I heard the gunshot through the bugs. Figured we'd need a quick getaway." Glancing to Gohan again, he then said, "Now just relax. We're gonna figure this out."

Gohan didn't bother answering. He just wasn't up for it. The only thing he could focus on was the sight of Ox-King dying over and over. It was like it was on a constant loop, continuously replaying in his head. Before he knew it, they were back at the motel and Goten was leading him into the room—more specifically to the bathroom.

It was then that Gohan got a good look at himself in the mirror. The right side of his face was covered with drops of dried blood, some of it making small tracks down his check. Slowly, he raised a hand to touch it, smearing it on his face.

Suddenly his hand began frantically rubbing his face, trying to get the blood off. All that accomplished was smearing his face red with the blood, which in turn made Gohan more frantic to get it off. "Get it off. Get it off of me!" his voice shouted shrilly.

"Gohan!" Goten was suddenly right next to him, grabbing his arm and with surprising strength, holding it away from him. "Calm down, you're only making it worse."

"Bu-but it's all over me! I…I need to get it off!"

"Listen to me," Goten said soothingly, "Calm down. I'll tell you exactly how to get rid of it. You just need to stop what you're doing."

Gohan took a deep a breath, held it, and then released it in a rush. He began to pant heavily and loudly. "Now," Goten continued, "Take off your clothes. Then step into the shower and wash yourself. I promise you, you'll feel better."

"Are…are you sure?" Gohan asked hesitantly, yet hopeful.

"Absolutely."

Swallowing, Gohan began to unbutton his blood-stained shirt and pulled it off. Soon his belt, slacks, shoes, socks, and boxer shorts were lying on the tiled floor. That was followed by Gohan standing in the bathtub, the shower curtain pulled from one end of the tub to the other. Hot water was raining down on him.

And the whole time he just stared down at the drain as what looked like red water swirled down it.


	6. Chapter 6

**This chapter is brought to you by ShadowMajin**

A black car came to a stop outside the building, the one where a senator had been reported as being killed inside. Once the engine died, the front doors swung open. Stepping out of the driver's door was a tall, bald man in a black and white suit, a stoic expression on his face. He was Special Agent Tien Shinhan and he had been called to many scenes like this in his time.

On the opposite side of the car stood a younger man with long blond hair dressed similar to Tien. Despite the agency's dress code concerning hair length, the young man was defiant to keep his hair the way he wanted it. Said that it was for religious reasons, though Tien suspected religion had nothing to do with it, not like the tattoo of a third eye he had on his forehead. It probably had more to do with the guy being a rookie recently graduated from the academy a week ago. He would learn the ropes of the National Agency of Inquiry and Enforcement soon enough. They always did.

"So what is it this time?" the young man asked. "Who was killed here?"

"Reports say it was a senator, Ox-King if I recall right," Tien answered as he began walking up to the building, his black dress shoes pounding the asphalt beneath him. The blond man immediately was at his side, easily keeping pace with him.

"Any word how he died?"

"No clue. That's what we're here for."

The two reached the front door, where a police officer was standing guard. Considering the amount of press that had been cordoned from the scene, it was necessary for him to be there. Reaching into his suit jacket, Tien pulled out a thin, black wallet and flipped it open, revealing a shiny, gold badge. His partner did the same. "I'm Special Agent Shinhan and this is my partner, Agent Sharpner. We're from the NAIE."

"Go right in," the officer said, allowing them through. Nodding his thanks, the two walked into the building, finding a nearly-empty hallway going from left to right. Seeing a couple of people hurrying down one of the halls, the two agents patiently followed them until they found themselves in the lobby of the building, right in front of the office where the alleged murder had taken place. There were a few people there, most of them dressed in police uniform or suit. There was also a woman sitting in the corner, looking absolutely distraught.

That was when a rotund man in a rumpled dress shirt and beige slacks spotted them. "Are you the agents I was told were coming?" he called out to them, one of his hands rubbing his scruffy-looking face.

"That would be correct," Tien answered, walking a few steps to the man. "And you are?"

"Police Chief Maroon of the Orange Star Police Department. You can head on back there, but I gotta warn ya, there's a bunch of brain lying around."

"Thanks." Immediately heading to a set of open doors, Tien and Sharpner entered the room to find exactly what they had been sent for. Lying on his side on the floor was Senator Ox-King, a large pool of blood emerging from the downside of his head, a large, neat hole on his upside—the point-of-entry wound. There was also a hole in the window with a large stain of blood dripping down the glass.

"That's a big son of a gun," Sharpner remarked about the body as he walked up to it, ignoring the rest of the people in the room that had stopped to stare at them. They would all go back to what they were doing in a minute or so, just like every crime scene Tien had ever been to. As Sharpner kneeled down next to the body, he looked into the bullet hole and whistled. "Hole goes right through his head."

Tien walked past the body and stared at the window, specifically where the hole was. Staring at it for a moment, he then looked to the body and back. "Obviously we have a sniper situation," he heard Sharpner continue. "Some where from outside I figure."

"Is the hole level?" Tien asked.

There was a moment's pause before "Yeah, perfectly level. Our sniper had to be aiming from somewhere at least seven feet above the ground to do that."

"Most likely," Tien agreed. "Also possible the window altered the bullet's trajectory by a hair, though very unlikely. We'll need the forensics team to examine everything."

"So we've got ourselves an assassination," Sharpner said, a slight hint of excitement in his voice. "Now what?"

This guy liked asking questions didn't he? Especially about what they were about to do. Looking to one of the police detective's in the room, Tien called out to him, "You, tell me what was going on here when the senator was shot."

The detective looked at him with a sour look, but nonetheless complied. Local law enforcement and the agency rarely got along these days. Good thing the agency was higher in the food chain than local PD. "The senator's schedule showed he was in a meeting with some reporter," he read from a notepad in his hand. "The secretary confirmed the reporter had shown up on time and the two were talking when the senator was shot."

Looking to Sharpner Tien ordered, "Go talk with the secretary. Get her to tell you everything she can." With a smirk on his face, Sharpner nodded his affirmation and stood up, walking out of the room. Tien was betting on the young man using his charm on the poor woman to get her to open up. Either that or slap Sharpner silly. Either way would give Tien something to talk about in the car. "And where is the reporter? I'd like to talk with him."

That was when the detective sighed. "We've got no clue where he is. First responders say they took the reporter out of the room and sat him down somewhere. He disappeared sometime after that."

Tien had been looking at the window again when he had heard that. Snapping his head to the detective, he demanded, "What? How did that happen?"

"No idea. I've only heard that some security guard for the senator took him to a hospital and that's it. We've got people checking up on the local hospitals right now, but so far nothing."

Tien's eyes narrowed before he backed away from the window, looking at the floor. Eventually he found shards of glass scattered on the red carpet. That at least confirmed that the shot that killed Ox-King had come from outside. Still, a flag was raised in Tien's head and after years of experience, he knew to trust his instincts.

Looking back to the body, Tien took note of which way it was facing. Turning his body to match Ox-King's, the agent looked straight ahead. "The reporter was standing near the window," he spoke out loud, getting the attention of everyone in the room. Taking a step forward, Tien then spun around to look in the opposite direction. "Right about here, outside of the window. But why? Why not sit in one of the chairs?" At this, many people looked to the chairs at the desk. "Either it was coincidence that he happened to be standing here or he purposely led the senator here."

"Couldn't he have been looking out the window for something and moved so the senator could see?" the detective asked.

"If that was the case, the senator would have been shot in the face," Tien answered. "Clearly he was standing with his side to the window, like it wasn't of great importance." A grim look appeared on his face then. "We need to find this reporter—now."

The room burst into activity then. Over the ruckus, Tien's voice issued orders. "I want forensics to cover every last inch of this floor for hair samples. Someone needs to lift some fingerprints on every doorknob and chair. Follow everyone protocol to the letter. And you," he stopped as he looked to the detective. "Do you have a name for the reporter?"

The detective flipped through a couple pages of his notepad. "Yeah," he eventually replied. "Paul Kay."

* * *

Gohan slowly trudged out of the bathroom, a towel wrapped around his waist. For someone of his personality, his body was the complete opposite of what one would think it would be. His muscles were clearly defined; how they were Gohan wasn't too sure. He kept in shape surely, but a morning job with some push-ups and sit-ups didn't give someone a body like his. As for as the young man knew, the muscles just grew up with him as he matured from a little boy to a hormone-confused teenager to a quiet young adult.

Goten didn't seem to mind his physique though. Instead he had some clothes laid out on the bed closest to Gohan. "I laid out some of my clothes for you. They might be a little small," his brother said apologetically, "But they should fit you."

"Thank you," Gohan said softly. Walking to them, he dropped his towel and picked up a pair of white boxer shorts, pulling them on one leg at a time.

"How are you doing?" Goten eventually asked him after a few awkward moments. "I can't imagine what's going through your head right now, considering all that's happened."

A flash of the side of Ox-King's head exploding with blood flashed through Gohan's head, causing him to shut his eyes tightly and grimace. "I…I can't get it out of my head," he eventually answered. Shakily he reached to pick up a pay of beige slacks and began pulling them on. "I just keep seeing him dying over and over like it's on repeat."

Goten nodded his head thoughtfully. After a few moments, he said "You know, there's a real good chance what we're doing is going to get worse."

"How? How can it get worse?"

"More people dying."

"Oh." Gohan paused as he considered those words. It shouldn't have been a surprise, especially since he was looking into the life of an assassin. People had died, were dying in this dark, shadowy world. Considering how obvious it was, Gohan hadn't really understood what that meant until Ox-King's body was lying on the floor. Not until now. He should stop it now, get out before something worse happened.

"…stop," he suddenly heard Goten say.

"What?" Gohan asked looking over to his brother. "I'm sorry, I didn't hear you."

"I said that maybe it would be best if you stopped here. I had an idea of what to expect going into this since I have done stories like this before. For someone like you, I don't see it getting any easier."

He was right, absolutely right. Looking down to the bed, Gohan just stared at the covering, ignoring how the slacks he wore slightly rid up in his crotch. This was no place for him. And yet…

"I have to keep going," he finally said. Slowly, he could feel his resolve grow, strengthening him. "There's a lot going on in this world that I just can't turn my back on, not anymore. I need to know more. This Ox-King guy died fighting it. Dad died because of it. I can't turn back now."

Goten stared at him in wonder before he found his voice again. "Are…are you sure about this?"

"Yeah." And he was. For the first time in a long while, Gohan felt certain in his decision. He was making the right choice, consequences be damned. "I started this thing and I have to see it to the end. Dad always said to never start something you know you can't finish."

A smirk appeared on Goten's face. "He told you that too? Then we're in agreement." As Gohan turned and picked up his shirt, a white, button-up dress shirt, his brother asked "So where do you want to go now? What's our next step?"

Gohan paused as he pulled his arm through the shirt's sleeve. That was a good question—a very good question. With his brother's story pretty much done until Goten got around to writing it, there wasn't much else that they could do with the senator. Well, now that he thought about the man, that last thing he had said to Gohan began to come back to him.

"Ox-King mentioned the Malone-Engvall Law right before he was…" here Gohan paused to swallow a lump that appeared in his throat. "Before he was shot. I think there's something in that law that got him killed."

"It's something at least," Goten responded. "We can start searching there, but there's something else we also need to consider. There was a sniper someone in the area and it's very likely they saw you in that room. They may try to go after you if they find out your digging through that law."

Gohan frowned. "How do you know there was a sniper?"

"Because I saw the crime scene. There was Ox-King's body lying on the floor with a bullet hole in the window. Since you two would have seen the shooter if he stood outside the window, he had to be hidden somewhere and that leaves a sniper as our shooter."

Gohan slowly nodded his head as his fingers began to slowly button up his shirt. "That makes sense." Gohan's head then jerked up as a thought hit him. "Crime scene? Oh crap, oh crap! The police know I was there when Ox-King died! And now I'm not there and they'll be looking for me! They might think I did it since it looks like I ran away!"

Goten grimaced. "That does complicate things some. But it might take them some time before they figure out who you are. You used an alias so they don't have your name. For the moment, that buys us some time."

"But what about DNA stuff? I could've left some hair or something for them to find!"

Goten snorted at that. "This isn't some crime drama where they can figure out who you are in 30 minutes. Even if you did leave some hair around, they'd need a sample from you previously recorded to match it. And if they sought out DNA from it, the same thing would apply."

"But what about fingerprints? They could get them from the doorknob or something!"

"Two steps ahead of you bro. Before I got you out of there, I cleaned off any doorknob or chair you touched so there's no way they have your prints."

Relief flooded Gohan for a moment before something else came to mind. "What about security footage?"

Goten's smirk grew wider before he moved to dresser where the TV sat. There he picked up a small CD case that Gohan hadn't noticed was there. Holding it out for him to see, Goten said "I got the disk from their security room and check for any digital copies."

Gohan sighed. His brother really had thought of everything. For some reason though, something was nagging at him. Like why Goten would go to the effort of stealing security footage and wiping away fingerprints. There was something not adding up here.

"To be honest though," Goten said, "The only thing we have to worry about is the people that saw you, like the secretary or the security for Ox-King. Still, we're a few steps ahead so I don't think that'll bother us."

"I hope so," Gohan muttered as he sat down on the bed. Entwining his fingers together and resting his forearms on his thighs, he hunched over and stared down at the floor below him. Thoughts of what the police could potentially do to them flooded his mind, ranging from imprisonment to torture. While it was likely his imagination was just running wild at the moment, the Son man was very uncomfortable being in his current situation.

That was when a hand slapped him on the back, startling Gohan and causing him to jolt up. Goten was standing to his side, looking down on him with a comforting look. "It'd be best if you stayed here for the time being. We don't want to press our luck until we absolutely have to." Taking in a deep breath and then releasing it, he continued "I'm going to go find out some information on that law you discovered. We'll see where that leads us to next."

Gohan nodded his head warily, a sudden wave of exhaustion beginning to overwhelm him. Funny, he hadn't realized how tired he was up until then. "Yeah, okay. Be careful."

Goten smirked at him. "You don't have to worry about me." Giving Gohan's shoulder a comforting squeeze, Goten walked across the room and out of the motel room, closing the door behind him. A few moments later, the sound of a car door opening and slamming shut were faintly heard by Gohan.

Letting out a sigh, Gohan rose his arms up above his head and stretched out his muscles. Perhaps while Goten was out running his errand, the Son man could get some rest. After what had happened this morning, he was emotionally and physically drained. Hopefully a nap would—

A loud explosion broke through Gohan's thoughts, causing him to instinctively roll to his right and off the bed, falling to the floor between the two beds. His heart was racing in his chest, his breathing sharply increasing as terror filled him. With wild eyes flying from one side of the room to the other, it took a moment before Gohan realized the sudden blast had come from outside of the room. His mind filled with paranoia, Gohan used the bed to his right to cautiously pull himself up onto his feet. Once he was standing, he began to make his way to the room door, his heart beat pounding so hard that he could feel it in his ears.

As soon as he reached the door, his hand shot out and grabbed the doorknob, his palm coated with a sheen of sweat, which made keeping his grip tougher than it should have been. Swallowing, Gohan twisted the knob and swung the door open.

Sitting right in front of him was a giant fireball sending off heat like an inferno. A pillar of black smoke rose into the air, some of it drifting over to Gohan and causing him to cough from the stench. Once he got control of his coughing fit, the young man caught sight of something in the fire. If he wasn't mistaken, there was a car in there, all of its windows blown out from the explosion. And through what was left of the windshield was a person, or at least what was left of them. Gohan couldn't tell if the person was alive or dead, but they were covered in flames.

Yet Gohan knew the car. He knew it because it had been parked there when he and his brother had come rushing back from Ox-Kings. And it had been parked there by Goten since it was his car.

"Goten. Goten!" Gohan screamed in horror and agony as he continued to stare into the flames. Slowly, he felt to his knees, weakly hanging onto the door, one that had scorch marks that went unnoticed by the distraught young man.

"GOTEN!"


	7. Chapter 7

**This chapter is brought to you by ShadowMajin**_  
_

_This can't be happening. This can't be happening!_ That thought roared through Gohan's head as he stared at the burning inferno in front of him. He couldn't even see Goten in the burning car, not that it made much of a difference. Anything that had been inside of the car was no longer alive.

And all Gohan could do was stare at it. After all of this time alone, he had found someone that he could relate to—in every since of the word. Someone he could call family. And just as sudden as his new family had walked into his life, they were ripped out of it just as quickly. Even if he hadn't known Goten as well as he wished, he was still his brother. That still meant something, had to mean something.

There was no will, no desire to move. Gohan felt numb, helpless, and alone. As captivating as the sight before him was, he felt no need to move. An elephant could have run him over and he wouldn't have noticed it. Heck, the police could come storming up to him to demand what—

Police? Police! Just the thought of seeing law enforcement sent a jolt of renewed life through Gohan's body. He couldn't be here, especially after what had happened earlier this morning. If those first responders from Ox-King's office showed up here, they would most assuredy be able to recognize him. He couldn't afford that right now, especially being sighted at two separate crime scenes, one of which he had up and disappeared from. Oh Lord did this look bad.

He had to get out of here. Immediately, Gohan was on his feet and walking over to the beds. Between them was a nightstand and on top of the stand were his car keys. Quickly, he hurried over to them and picked them up, turning around to run out the door. However, as he turned, he caught sight of Goten's suitcase sitting up against the wall.

Stopping, a new thought entered the young man's head. Goten had obviously known more about this very deadly world the two of them were in. He seemed to have so much knowledge on it, not to mention ways of getting the information he needed. He had to have had some other information with him, right? Gohan needed everything he possibly knew.

With renewed focus, Gohan pocketed his keys and walked up to the suitcase, closing it and zipping it shut a moment later. Other than clothes, it was possible Goten may have had some other things he kept in the case, like documents or…or…just something he hadn't mentioned to him yet. Gohan hoped that was the case.

Yet, the suitcase wasn't all that Goten had with him. His younger brother had kept something in the closet, so that was going to have to come along with Gohan as well. Picking up the suitcase, Gohan hurried over to the closet and slid the door open. There he found two black cases and a black duffle bag. Gohan paused long enough to frown at the cases and bag before he bent down and grabbed the duffle bag, using its long, wide strap to hang it from his shoulder. Picking up one of the black cases, Gohan made sure he had a good grip on its handle and the suitcase's as well and hurried out the door. With great haste, Gohan rushed passed a few empty parking spaces and up to his car. Moving behind it, he set the black case in his left hand down on the ground and reached into his pocket, grasping his keys. Shifting them around, he finally found his car opener and hit the trunk opening button. The trunk opened with an audible click. After using his hand to push the trunk lid further up, Gohan shoved the suitcase and duffle bag in, the black case following shortly. Great, all he had to do now was get that last case and the police would never know he was here.

No…no wait. The police had forensic people. They could find any trace of him if he had left it behind. Crap. Crap! Now he had to destroy any possible evidence he might have left behind!

_Calm down. Calm down!_ Gohan reprimanded himself mentally. He didn't have to destroy everything, just his fingerprints. That was the biggest thing the police could use to track him down.

Spying out of the corner of his eye, Gohan found a small box of latex gloves, the same box he had gotten when he had went to handle those poison vials at his father's house. Quickly, Gohan pulled out two gloves and slammed the trunk shut. Hurrying back to the room, he didn't put the gloves on until he was in the doorway. Pausing for a moment, Gohan took a deep breath and then got to work.

First the bathroom. If there was anything of him in this place, that room would have it. Turning on the bathroom lights as he entered the room, the first thing he saw were his bloodied clothes lying on the floor. "Damn it," Gohan cursed. Just his luck that some of that blood would get on the floor too. Looking about the room, he soon saw a wastebasket with a plastic trash bag lining the inside. Reaching down and pulling the wastebasket closer to him, Gohan began stuffing his clothes into the basket. Once they were all in it, he pulled the trash bag out and pushed the waste backet back to where it had been with his foot. Turning around, he moved to the bathroom door and placed the trash bag just outside of the room. Turning back again, Gohan searched once more and found a white towel hanging from the towel rack. Grabbing it, Gohan then moved to the bathtub and began rubbing the towel all over it. In the tub, on its sides, even the knob and faucet were rubbed down. Once he was satisfied, he then moved to the sink and wiped the counter, knobs, and faucet clean as well.

Turning off the bathroom light, Gohan moved into the main room once more, pausing at the closet to pull out the last black case and setting it by the trash bag. He also rubbed the towel along the side of the door as well before moving to the nightstand. He didn't spend that much time there either as he rubbed the stand's surface.

Once he was done, Gohan looked about the room, trying to remember if there was anything else he touched. There wasn't much he could do with the floor unfortunately, but he was sure he hadn't touched the walls. Neither he nor Goten had bothered with the TV so it and the dresser it sat on were good to go. However, they both had sat on the beds. Grimacing, Gohan walked to the foot of one of the beds and began rubbing it down. He only went half way up it before moving to the second bed. This one he wiped down the entire comforter, pulled it off the bed with the bed sheet, and then began cleaning the mattress cover. He had slept in this bed after all, so naturally any fingerprints he left would most likely be here. All the while, Gohan could feel himself getting more and more anxious. He was running out of time here.

Finally, he couldn't take it anymore. There was too much evidence he was leaving behind that he couldn't afford to leave. Grabbing the bed sheet between the comforter and mattress cover and pulled it out, balling it up the moment he had it free of the bed. Grabbing the pillow, he pulled off the pillow case and balled it up with the bed sheet. Adding the towel to the growing ball, the young man then hurried over to the trash bag and stuffed the ball into it, leaving the bag nearly full. He was confident enough to leave the mattress cover and comforter behind. Picking up the bag and the case, Gohan rushed out of the motel room, closing the door behind him. Quickly, he made his way back to his car and stopped at the back driver's side door. Shifting everything into his right arm, again Gohan searched his pocket for his keys, this time pulling them out and finding the car opener. Hitting the unlock button twice, he heard the car beep as the locks made an audible click, signifying the car was completely unlocked. Opening the door, Gohan tossed everything onto the back seat and then slammed the door shut.

Opening the driver's door, Gohan slid into his seat and shut the door behind him. However, as he began putting his car key into the ignition, he froze. Slowly, Gohan looked to his left and saw the smoldering sight of Goten's car. If someone had done that to his brother's car, who wasn't to say they already did it to his? Just great, he was walking into his own death trap!

Faintly, Gohan could hear the approaching sirens of the police. And that added another complication. It wasn't like he could grab everything in his car and run off with it. He wouldn't get far before someone spotted him and reported him to the police. Gohan's face twisted with frustration. What the hell did he do now? What could he do?

_No choice._ He had to try starting his car. Worst case scenario had another car bomb killing him, just like Goten. Best case had him driving off into the sunset to live another day. Relaxing his face, Gohan took in a deep breath and held it. "Now or never," he said to himself before inserting his key into the ignition and turning it.

In response, his engine roared to life, causing Gohan to let out his breath and laugh with relief. Eagerly, he shifted the gear shift into reverse and backed out of his parking spot. Turning the wheel, Gohan shifted gears again into drive and drove out of the parking lot, turning left onto the street. The young man resisted the urge to speed, managing to stay at the speed limit even as he caught sight of the familiar red and blue lights appearing at the end of the street behind him.

It was time to disappear.

* * *

"Mind telling me why we've been dragged to a motel parking lot?" Sharpner complained loudly.

"Duty mostly," Tien answered, not the least be annoyed. "It is in our job description to investigate bombings, you know."

"Right, right," the younger man droned. "In case it was an act of terrorism or something like that."

Tien merely grunted his reply that time. He was more focused on the burnt out car in front of him. Firefighters had already put the fire out, leaving a burnt shell of a vehicle. However, in the driver's seat was a charged body, completely unidentifiable just from looking at it. Currently Forensics was taking samples of any DNA they could find. So far all they had determined it was a young man with his teeth still intact fortunately. A plaster mold of his mouth had been made and sent back to a forensics lab to find a match with dental records.

The police weren't sitting on their rears either. One of the first responders had already radioed in the license plate of the car to find out the owner. Though it was entirely possible the driver wasn't the owner of the car, it was still a lead worth pursing.

"Sir!" an officer suddenly called out to him, causing Tien to turn towards the policeman. The officer turned out to be a round, furry tiger. "We have the name of the car's owner," he informed Tien.

"Good, who is it?"

"The car belongs to a Son Goten. I've already talked to the motel clerk and he said that they had rented out a room to Son."

"I believe we have an ID on our victim," Tien surmised. "Any idea of who this guy is?"

The tiger nodded his head and looked down at his notepad. "Son is a journalist for the Blue Star Tribune. We already have someone calling the newspaper's editor to find out what he was doing here."

"And which room was he staying in?"

"Room 106," the tiger answered pointing towards the door right in front of the car.

"Thank you." Nodding his dismissal to the officer, Tien made his way to the motel room, Sharpner following at his heels. Once they got to the door, they stopped and turned to one of the nearest forensic techs. "Does one of you gentlemen have some gloves we could use?" Tien called out.

A few of the techs looked up to the bald man, but one of them immediately nodded his head. The tech took off towards a big, black truck with the word FORENSICS painted in big, bold, yellow letters on the side. A few moments later and the man hurried over to Tien and Sharpner and handed them a pair of gloves each. Nodding their thanks, both men pulled on the gloves and then turned to the door. Reaching out to the door, Sharpner grabbed the doorknob and turned it, opening the door.

"Unlocked," Sharpner commented. "Looks like someone forgot to lock their door on the way out."

Tien didn't respond, merely walking into the room, only to stop up short. "And he forgot to turn off his room's lights."

"Tsk, tsk, what a waste of electricity," Sharpner scolded. "I guess he thought he was coming right back."

Tien remained impassive. There was something not quite right with this scene; he could feel it in his gut. Walking into the motel room, he ignored the bathroom, leaving that to his partner. Hearing the sound of the light switch being flicked on told the bald man that Sharpner was looking into that room. In the main room, Tien saw a TV set sitting on a dresser, directly across the room from two beds and a nightstand. One of the beds was made up aside from a few wrinkles here and there on the comforter. The other bed, however, had its comforter pulled off the bed. Most of it was resting in a pile on the floor. Another thing that struck Tien was that the bed sheet and pillow case were missing.

Moving towards the wall, the agent soon found himself looking at the floor next to the wall. A section of the carpet there seemed to be depressed, as if something had been resting there for awhile. What ever it was though, was currently missing. Was it in the car or did something else happen?

"Tien," he heard Sharpner call out. "I think I found something in the bathroom. Looks like blood."

Turning around, the bald man made his way to the bathroom, looking into it from the doorway. Sharpner was kneeling down with his back to the bathtub, looking down at the tile floor. On the floor the blond was focusing on was what looked like red stains.

"We're going to need forensics in here," the agent said after a moment.

Sharpner looked up to Tien. "That's not all either." Reaching out, the young man picked up a waste basket and held it up so his partner could see the inside of it. "The lining's missing."

Tien's eyes narrowed. If the bald man had been feeling suspicious about the room before, now he knew there was something wrong. "C'mon, we've contaminated this room enough."

Nodding his head, Sharpner set the waste basket down and followed the bald man out of the motel room. Once they were out of the room Tien called out "I need a forensics team in this room. Fingerprints, blood spatter, everything."

Immediately, a couple of lab techs left the burned-out car, carrying their equipment and went into the motel room. A few others remained at their posts, continuing their investigation of the car.

"So, what do you think, Tien?" Sharpner asked.

Tien looked to his partner. "There's something very wrong about all this. I can feel it in my bones."

"Is it like those old guys being able to feel the weather change in their bones?"

The bald man resisted rolling his eyes at that. He had been the target of many old people jokes for some time now. "Something like that. The room's missing things for one. I found one of the beds missing bed sheets and I think there's something else missing too. Then you find possible blood stains on the bathroom floor and a trash can missing its lining. That's without mentioning the burnt body in the car, which I'm beginning to think is more than it seems."

Sharpner nodded his head. "I'm thinking the same. There's something else too."

Tien raised an eyebrow at that. "And what could that be?"

"This Goten guy, that cop said he worked for the Blue Star Tribune. When I was talking with the secretary at the Ox-King crime scene, she mentioned the reporter that saw the senator before he died was from Blue Star too."

Tien frowned once more. "Two reporters from the same newspaper were in the same city?"

Sharpner nodded his head. "It's probably nothing. These guys could have been doing two different stories and had nothing to do with each other."

"Or they could have been working together," Tien countered. "Considering the average salary of a newspaper journalist today, if two reporters came to the same city, even if they're working on different subjects, you would think they'd try to split expenses with each other. Save money on a room and travel."

"I'll keep on top of this Goten guy. Find out what he was doing in the city," Sharpner said.

"You do that. I'm going to coordinate the interview process here," Tien replied. "We'll see if Mr. Son was alone or not."


	8. Chapter 8

**This long chapter is brought to you by ShadowMajin.**

Gohan sat on the bed of the new motel room, trying to gather his thoughts. The room was similar to the last one. While the beds, nightstand, dresser, and TV were arranged differently about the room, it was basically the same room, only with blank white walls instead of that hideous orange-patterned wallpaper. On the other bed was everything Gohan had taken from the old motel. Goten's suitcase, duffle bag, and two black cases were piled haphazardly in the middle of the bed while the trash bag with his bloodied clothes and bed sheet had been tossed in a dumpster behind a fast food restaurant. Hopefully no one would notice it was there until it was taken to the dump and buried forever.

The young man let out a sigh. His whole situation was beginning to weight down on him. Two days had already passed since he saw two men—one his newly-deceased brother—killed right in front of him. On top of that, there seemed to be some cloak-and-dagger scheme that was becoming more and more dangerous with every step he took. After fleeing the old motel room, he had kept himself busy. He had been too afraid to go back to his apartment in fear that someone could follow him there and try to kill him. That also ruled out grabbing some fresh clothes so he had to buy some new one. There were a couple of half-filled shopping bags lying in the corner of the room as proof of his shopping trip. It was a shame that Goten's clothes were too small for him…

Giving the bed another glance, he felt his stomach sink. He still hadn't gone through his little brother's things. They just sat on that bed, haunting him with mystery and questions. Steeling his nerve, Gohan rose to his feet and walked up to the bed, at first simply staring down at them only to finally reach for the suitcase. Unclasping the buckles, he flipped the top open and began rummaging around inside, shifting the clothes around. At first, Gohan didn't find anything of noteworthy until he reached the bottom of the suitcase. There he found a white, unmarked envelope. Opening it, the only thing Gohan found in the envelope was pieces of torn paper. Pulling out some of the pieces, the young man let the pieces fall from his hand, the bits of paper swirling as they fell.

Frowning at it, Gohan put the envelope down on the bed and began searching the suitcase some more. Unfortunately, there wasn't anything else other than clothes. Looking to the netting on the underside of the suitcase top, the young man spotted a faint bulge. Grabbing the zipper, he unzipped the netting and reached behind it, reaching for the source of the bulge. When his fingers found something small and rectangular, he grabbed it and pulled it out, finding it to be a flash drive. Fiddling with it between his fingers, he ultimately moved to set it down on the nightstand before shutting the suitcase closed.

Turning to the duffle bag, Gohan unzipped and opened the bag. Reaching in, he immediately pulled out a small laptop computer. Instantly, the Son man recognized it as the one belonging to Goten. His brother had used it when they had made up his fake press credentials. A quick glance back into the bag and Gohan caught sight of the computer's charger. Pulling it out, he took both the laptop and charger to the dresser and set it down. Once he was done inspecting the rest of Goten's things, he'd start his research surrounding Ox-King's death, namely that suspicious law he was told about.

Returning to the duffle bag, Gohan was surprised to find there wasn't much in there. There were a couple of folders in there, but a quick search through them told the young man that they concerned stories that Goten had been researching for his job. Not much he could use there. There were some socks and underwear inside the bag as well, though the socks were the only useful item there.

Moving away from the duffle bag, Gohan grabbed the handle of the shorter and squattier of the two black cases and turned it on its side. Unlocking the buckles that held the case closed, the young man opened it to find a styrofoam bedding with all sorts of electronic gadgets. In the lower left hand corner was a small bag, one that Gohan picked up and opened. Inside he found several of the little microphones that Goten had shown him and subsequently planted at Ox-King's window. Closing the bag, Gohan put it back in its place in the case.

To the right of the bag was a tape recorder. Noticing a tape still in the recorder, Gohan picked it up and hit the play button, waiting a couple seconds to hear the recording.

_"Check, check," _the voice of his brother came out, causing a choked feeling to rise up in Gohan's chest. _"This is Son Goten with the Blue Star Tribune, interviewing—"_

Gohan hit the stop button. That was all he could take hearing his late brother's voice. Imagines of his burning car flooded his head as tears threaten to fall from his eyes. Letting out a sob, Gohan sat down on the other bed and pressed his hand onto his face. Even though he hadn't known Goten all that well, he was still family and it hurt to know he was gone. They had only spent a short amount of time together, but for some reason Gohan had become attached to him. That wasn't something he normally did, but after being alone for so long, he was desperate to hang onto any form of family he could get his hands on. And now…

_Get yourself together Gohan_ he reprimanded himself. Steeling his nerves, Gohan buried his heavy emotions deep inside him. Wiping away the tears from his eyes, the young man took in a deep breath and slowly let it out. _Okay, that's better. Let's get on with this._

Standing back up, Gohan placed the tape recorded back in its slot. Looking at the rest of the case's contents, he was almost embarrassed to say he had no idea what everything was. There were a couple of walkie-talkies in the bottom right corner and some neatly wrapped wiring above them, but that was all he could make of the remaining equipment. It seemed he was gonna have to search the internet for answers.

_RING! RING!_

Gohan jolted up at that. Whipping his head from side to side, Gohan searched for the source of the ringing before he realized it was the sound of his cell phone. As his face flushed red from embarrassment, Gohan dug into his pants pocket and pulled out is phone, answering the call. "Hello?" he greeted warily, his voice slightly thick from his earlier emotional bout.

_"Hey Gohan? It's Barker from the office,"_ the voice answered, causing Gohan to sight with relief. Barker was a co-worker of his at his job. They weren't what you would call friends, but they did help each other out with work, being as they worked right next to each other. _"I know you're on vacation,"_ Barker continued, _"But I really need your help. You mind looking at something for me?"_

"Umm, is this…important," Gohan asked hesitantly. "I'm not exactly in the best state of mind right now."

_"It's nothing world-changing if that's what you mean,"_ Barker replied. _"I just need you to look at a document and let me know what you think. It'll only take a few minutes, I swear! You can go back to hitting up chicks without them even knowing you were gone!"_

Gohan sighed. "Alright, I'll take a look."

_"Thanks! I sent it to your email."_

"Okay." Walking over to Goten's laptop, Gohan opened it up and hit the power button, the screen coming to life a couple seconds later. "I'll email you back when I'm done."

_"Again, thanks. You're a lifesaver! Have fun on your vacation!"_

Before Gohan could reply to that, Barker hung up. The young man hadn't been kidding when he said he wasn't in the mood for doing work. With everything that was going on, there just wasn't any time to really focus and do a good job for his co-worker. Still, if he wanted to at least maintain his standing at work, he needed to do right by his peers.

Picking up the charger, Gohan walked over to an electrical outlet near the empty bed and plugged it in. setting the charger down on the floor and resting the other end of the wire on the bed, Gohan went back to the laptop and picked it up, taking it back with him to the bed and sitting on it with his back against the headboard. If he was going to do some work, he might as well get comfortable.

Once he had the charger plugged into the laptop—and finding the computer was fully booted up and ready for use—Gohan opened up a web browser and went in search of his email account. The sound of pounding keys filled the room as the young man found and accessed his email, finding several pieces of unread mail along with Barker's. Opening Barker's email, the young man settled in and got to work.

* * *

"Get this," Sharpner said as he stood in front of Tien. "Son was doing a story on Ox-King. It was the reason he was here in the first place."

Tien stared at his partner in astonishment. "Are you kidding me?"

A wide smile appeared on Sharpner's face. "Not at all."

Currently, the two agents were at their "headquarters," namely a fancy hotel room that was covered with cardboard boxes and high-tech electronic equipment. In a way, the room wasn't all that different from Goten's motel room except that their room was much bigger, had cleaner carpeting, and the walls were a soothing beige color instead of that gaudy wallpaper. Along every wall were boxes full of papers and documents mostly concerned with their investigation. Some of the boxes were empty, discarded to a corner of the room. Those boxes had held some of their equipment that was currently sitting on top of their dresser and desk. The desk was also something they had the privilege of having that Goten's motel room didn't provide.

"Yeah," Sharpner continued, "Turns out Son had wanted to come to this city for some unknown reason and his editor told him he had to do a story on Ox-King while he was here."

Tien leaned back in the plush chair he was setting in. "That explains our car bomb victim. What about Kay?"

"That's where things start to get strange. According to Son's editor, there isn't a Paul Kay working for him. So I dug into the employment records and found one for Kay. According to the record, Kay had been working for barely a week before being sent out here."

Tien raised an eyebrow. "So the editor was lying?"

Sharpner shrugged his shoulders. "I hammered him with Kay's employment file and he was completely baffled. I got the impression he really had no idea who Paul Kay was. Also, there's barely anything in Kay's record about him. You have his name, a date of birth, and the day he started working for Blue Star Tribune and that's it. It's like he just appeared out of nowhere."

"Wait, wait, wait," Tien said, raising a hand up to stop Sharpner. "You mean to tell me there's nothing we have on this guy?"

"No address, no social security number, no criminal background check, nothing," Sharpner answered. "Like I said, appeared out of nowhere."

"No picture of what this guy looks like either, I take it."

"Yeah. Only thing we have to go on is the secretary's description of him."

Tien turned his head way from the blond and to the desk. On top of the wooden surface—other than a laptop and a couple of manila folders, one of which was open since Tien had been reading from it before his partner interrupted him—was a piece of paper with a man's face on it. A sketch artist had interviewed the secretary and she had described a man with spiky black hair, kind eyes, and a very nervous face. That description was looking right back at Tien. "So he's a man that doesn't exist," he murmured.

"What was that?"

Looking back to Sharpner, the bald man said "He doesn't exist, this Paul Kay person. It's an alias. It's the only explanation I can come up with that explains his sudden appearance."

Sharpner's shoulder dropped. "So all we have on this guy is that sketch?"

The corner of Tien's mouth twitched upwards at that. "I wouldn't say that. As you know, I was coordinating the interview process at the motel and a few of the tenants there confirmed that they saw a man matching this description high-tailing it out of there. They saw him load up his car with his luggage and drove off before the first responders arrived." Pausing for a moment to consider his next words, Tien added "And I'm willing to bet that some of that luggage belonged to Son."

Sharpner frowned. "Why would he take Son's luggage?"

Tien shook his head. "No idea. But it does tell me these two knew each other and that the bombing scared 'Kay'."

"Okay, so these two were sharing that motel room. Did forensics find anything?"

Again, Tien shook his head. "As to the identity of Paul Kay, no. The only fingerprints we could find belonged to Son, but none of them were found in the shower, on the sink, the nightstand, or the beds." The bald man snorted then. "It seems Kay took the time to destroy any evidence there was of him at that motel room, or at least of any that we could identify him with. It explains why the bed sheet and pillow case were missing."

"What about hair samples? Didn't we find any that belonged to him?"

"Yes, but that's all it is: hair. It's not nearly as useful as fingerprints would have been. About the only thing the lab techs have been able to figure out is that two different people had stayed in that motel room. They managed to match some of the samples to Son's burnt ones. Right now they're trying to see if they can extract any DNA from the hairs."

Sharpner seemed downtrodden. "What about the blood? There has to be something there," he said desperately.

Tien perked up at that as a small grin appeared on his face. "Actually, something did come from that." Reaching over to the open manila folder, the bald man picked it up and held it to his partner. "Take a look. There's a blood match."

Eagerly, Sharpner snatched the folder from Tien's hand and read the report there. "Ox-King," the blond said out loud. "The blood is from our senator."

"Which means…"

"That Kay went to the motel after Ox-King was killed! He took his clothes off on in the bathroom and I guess washed off."

Tien nodded his head encouraging. "Which also means that Son was also aware of Ox-King's assassination. And considering that Son didn't make a call to the police, I'm guessing he was either trying to convince Kay to turn himself in or the two of them were up to something else entirely."

Sharpner closed the folder and held it at his side. "So the two cases are connected somehow."

"Barely," Tien admitted, "But it is our job to find out how."

A wide grin spread over Sharpner's face. "So what do we do now?"

"What we always do. Our jobs."

* * *

Gohan hit the sent button and let out a big sigh. He was finally done with Barker's document. It could have used a few improvements, but otherwise it looked sound. He had even said as much in his reply email to him.

But now the Son man felt drained. For the moment, he really didn't want to do anything except sit on that bed and let time pass him by—which he did. However, he didn't just do nothing while sitting there. Looking at his unread emails, he skimmed through them all, making note that they were all of little importance. In other words, it was the usual kind of emails he received.

Just as he was about to close his account, a new email popped up. Staring at it for a moment, he found it to be titled **We Need To Talk**. Frowning, Gohan opened it up and found a short paragraph that read:

_Go to the Carlton Gates in one hour. There will be a young woman in a red dress at the hotel bar. She will give you further instructions as to our rendezvous point. You're playing a dangerous game, Mr. Paul Kay, with very dangerous people. If you want a chance at surviving, unlike your late partner, you will meet with me._

Gohan's blood froze upon reading that. Someone knew about him, about Paul Kay. The fact that they had even used his personal email address meant they knew about his fake identity. That wasn't even mentioning that they knew of Goten's sudden death.

Placing the laptop of the bed, Gohan stood up and began pacing about the room. He had to do something about this, he couldn't just sit on his hands and wait it out. This person knew about him, knew who he was, and where he had been. It was even possible they knew where he was currently and could do to him what had happened to Goten. He needed to meet this person.

There wasn't any choice in the matter.

* * *

The Charlton Gates was the richest hotel in the city. Only the wealthiest of the wealthy stayed, mostly because they could afford it. A-list celebrities were allowed to stay for the sole purpose of contributing to the fame of the hotel. Your Average Joe couldn't even dream of setting foot inside the lobby, much less get a room with a reservation years in advanced. Yeah, it was that kind of hotel.

And Gohan had to walk right into it.

He was standing across the street from the tall building, looking up at its thirty floors of steel and concrete. The sun reflected off of its polished surface and tinted windows, making it glow heavenly. Wiping his sweaty palms together, Gohan wondered how he was even going to have a chance to get inside.

Looking down to the large glass doors, he watched as limos, sports cars, and classical cars drove up in the small, private driveway that circled in front of the building. The crème of society would climb out of their cars and hand off their keys to an eager valet, who would then drive to car off to park it at a private garage. The garage was the reason why Gohan had parked his car a couple blocks away from the building, making him walk the rest of the way.

His nervousness also wasn't helped by the fact that he was formally dressed. Though his grey sports jacket was nothing compared to what the socialites were wearing—in fact, their polished shoes were worth more than all the clothes Gohan wore at the moment—and his white dress shirt was as ironed and pressed as it could be, he still couldn't help but feel underdressed in front of these large collection of wealth. He was thankful he wasn't wearing a tie, but he was having second thoughts considering all the men that had shown up at the hotel wore them. _Yeah, I'm definitely underdressed for this._

Rubbing his hands on his grey, Gohan steeled his nerves. It wasn't his fault this was all he could afford, even with all the cash he found at his father's house—after all, he couldn't afford to spend it all in one place and there would come a time he would really need that money, especially with this deadly game he was involved in. It was for that reason he had brought the gun he had bought at Krillen's with him, the gun tucked into the waistband of his pants against his back. Taking a deep breath, the young man began walking one step at a time up to the hotel, his black dress shoes clicking and clacking on the asphalt. He was going to make history today as the man who wore the cheapest clothes at the most expensive hotel in town. Yeah, that was going to be a record of some sort.

Since traffic was light, Gohan had no problem crossing the street and walking through the hotel's private driveway. Noticing a doorman at the door, Gohan altered his course from the door slightly, walking up next to it and standing. The tall, burly-looking man frowned at him, giving him a suspicious look. Returning the ugly look with a weak smile and nod, Gohan looked away from the man, pretending that he was waiting for someone. Sticking his hands into his pockets, he shifted his weight from the heels of his feet to his toes, turning his head this way and that to complete his illusion. While the Son man doubted he fooled the doorman, it was enough to keep him from tossing Gohan away like trash.

"What do ya mean I can't stay here?" a loud voice shouted, causing everyone to look to its source. By one of the cars, an elderly gentleman was yelling at one of the valets in full rage. Apparently he wasn't good enough to be a guest at the hotel, Gohan mused. With wildly exaggerated motions, the gentleman continued to yell at the valet, his face becoming red with anger.

However, the scene had captured the doorman's attention as the man looked towards the commotion. For a moment, it looked as if he were going to charge right in to defuse the situation, but his duty to man the door tore at him. His duty became even stronger as a wealthy couple approached the door.

His duty won out though, as the doorman grabbed the handle to the door and opened it. "Welcome to the Carlton Gates," he greeted the couple, who snobbishly thanked him. Once the couple had entered the doorway, the doorman returned his attention to the enraged gentleman, stared at him, then decided to leave his post and settle the matter.

Serendipitous as it was, it was the opportunity Gohan had been waiting for. Quickly, he walked up to the door and slipped right in just before the glass door closed. There, he was finally in the lion's den.

Finding himself in the lobby, Gohan was immediately taken back. The lobby was a large, wide room completely made out of polished, white marble. To his left were huge, expensive rugs where plush leather chairs and couches were situated, some of where were occupied by the hotel's clientele. On the opposite side of the room was a magnificent staircase that led straight up before dividing into two different staircases, each one going in the opposite direction as the other. To the right of the stairs was a long wooden desk with the hotel registry. Gohan counted five to six workers standing behind the desk, each one filling out vacancies for the hotel. Overhead was a large, golden chandelier hanging from the high ceiling. All it all, the place screamed wealth.

It was making Gohan uncomfortable.

As casual as he could, the young man began walking to his right, keeping his distance from the front desk. He didn't want to risk someone paying him any attention and try to throw him out, not at this point. He had an appointment to keep after all.

As it turned out, taking that right had been a wise choice. On the far wall beyond the front desk was a large opening. Through the opening, Gohan could see a lounge of sorts where the hotel guests were seated and making conversation as they ate their early afternoon meal. Making a beeline for the lounge, Gohan entered it and looked around. Most of the tables were occupied from what he could tell, but that didn't concern him. What did capture his attention was the presence of a bar to his right. This had to be the place the email told him to be.

Sharpening his focus, Gohan looked at everyone situated at the bar. On one side was a man and a woman talking animatedly with each other. A seat away from them was a group of three men, all of them conversating about something Gohan couldn't hear. A few more empty seats from them was a lone man who seemed to be staring intently at the drink in front of him. And finally at the other end of the bar was another man and woman.

However, it was this pair that got Gohan's attention, particularly the woman. She was dressed in a lovely, form-fitting red dress, just as the email said she would. The only other distinguishing features he could make of her was that she had shoulder-length blonde hair and was thin. The man next to her seemed to be trying to get her attention, but was having very little success. Eventually, he gave up and left her alone. _Guess she wasn't interested in him._

However, seeing as she didn't seem to mind dismissing the guy, Gohan could feel his anxiousness creep up again. What if she blew him off as well? What if she assumed he wasn't the guy she was supposed to meet? Heck, what if she didn't know she was supposed to meet anyone at all and this was just an elaborate prank to make a fool out of him?

Gohan gulped. _Well, here's to making a fool out of myself_.

Slowly, the young man made his way to the woman. With every step he took, time seemed to slow down. The sound of chatter that had filled the lounge had become drawn out, as if the people were talking in slow motion. Soon, the only thing Gohan was aware of was the sound of his feet clicking on the floor and the heaviness of his breathing. His heart was pounding in his chest a hundred miles an hour.

Just as he was two seats away from the woman, a glass of some sort of alcohol in her hand, she slowly turned to look at him, her face emotionless as her crystal blue eyes bored into him. Even her movements were in slow motions as her eyelids closed and reopened. Dear Lord, this woman was beautiful.

Then the world sped back up. Swallowing hard, Gohan tried to extend a greeting. "H-hi."

An expression appeared on the woman's face, one of disinterest. "Not interested," she bluntly told him, looking aware from him as she daintily lifted up her drink.

"Oh, no! I'm not here to ask for…ask for…umm…yeah…I, uhh…" he stammered.

The woman rolled her eyes as she sipped her drink. "Bug. Off."

Gohan felt his shoulder sag with rejection. This was not the way he wanted this to go. He needed to woman to tell him what he needed to know, mainly who it was that ordered him here. He couldn't back down, not now. She had to know he was the one she was waiting for!

_Stop it Gohan!_ Closing his eyes, Gohan tried to center himself. This onslaught of emotion was not helping his situation. Taking a deep breath, he calmed himself down and reconsidered the situation. Yes, he had to talk with this woman. Unfortunately, she didn't know who he was. It was very likely the only thing she knew was that she had to meet with a man named Paul Kay.

And there was his opening.

_Okay, with go with this._ Straightening out his posture, Gohan moved to the seat closest to him, one that was two seats away from the woman. "I don't think you want me to do that," he said to her offhandedly. _Good, at least my false sense of courage is coming through for me._

"Really now," the woman drawled, not even bothering to look at him. "And why is that?"

"Because you're looking for a Paul Kay and wouldn't want to miss him."

The woman's head whipped around to stare at him. "You're Paul Kay?" she demanded.

Gohan repressed a smirk that was trying to work its way onto his face. "I might be," he relented. "Though for all you know, I could just be his representative."

The woman stared at him for a moment before she stood up and moved to the seat next to him. Her leg brushed up against Gohan's as she crossed her legs. "Well then, I believe you have my interest," she said coyly.

It was like a weight was lifted off of his shoulders. This was good; this was very good. Looking towards her, Gohan found the woman staring right at him, her eyes rapt with attention. Her breathing had picked up he noted as her chest was noticeably expanding and contracting, calling attention to her generous cleavage.

Gohan could feel his head tilt down as he blatantly stared at her bosom. _Oh…wow…_

"Will you be informing Mr. Kay of my arrival?" the woman's voice asked, breaking through the young man's daze. _Focus, Gohan, Focus! You can stare at her boobs later…much…later…_

Gohan shook his head. "He's been informed," Gohan forced out. "Though he is curious as to why he's been asked here."

"A man asked me to meet him." At this, the woman leaned back and reached into dress, pulling out a small business card. As she handed it to him, she said "He told me to give this to him."

Taking the card, Gohan looked at it to find it belonged to the front desk of the hotel. Flipping it over, he found the number 2817 written on the back. _Is this a room number?_

Flipping it over again, Gohan looked back to the woman as she stared at him intently. "Are you going to deliver it to Mr. Kay?" she asked.

"Yes, I will," he answered for her, offering a tentative smile, one that she returned confidently. "I hope I'm not being too forward, but would you mind telling me your name?"

"Hatchi," she answered. "How about you?"

"Gohan," he replied, holding his hand out to her. She returned the gesture and shook his hand. A slight bit of inspiration came to Gohan at the moment and he brought her hand up to his lips, giving it a small kiss—just like he had seen in the movies. "It was nice meeting you."

Hatchi's smile remained on her lips as her eyes twinkled with mirth. "And I you."

With a full-fledge smile on his face, Gohan nodded his head to Hatchi and card in hand, stood up and left. Leaving the lounge, he looked at the backside of the card, seeing 2817 once more. This had to be a hotel room, right? Why order him to a hotel, give him a random set of numbers, and not want to actually meet here? Well, unless it was actually one part of an address. Yet there wasn't a street name on the card aside from the hotel's address.

Shrugging his shoulders, Gohan went in search of the elevators. Worst case scenario was that the numbers had nothing to do with a room number in the building. If that was the case, he would assuredly go back to his motel room and find another email with further instructions.

Arriving back in front of the staircase, Gohan looked from one side of the room to the other. From what he could see, there wasn't any way up to the upper floors aside form that gigantic staircase, not exactly something he felt like climbing.

Looking back to the front desk, the young man noticed a couple walking towards him before making a right towards the staircase. Behind them was a bagman carrying their luggage. Keeping an eye on them, Gohan watched as they headed towards a small hallway right in between the staircase and the front desk. Slowly, Gohan began to stroll after them, heading down the hallway until he saw them stop, wait a few moments, and then walked into the wall.

Picking up his pace, Gohan soon saw a three gold plated elevator door. Just what he was looking for. Hitting the up arrow button, he waited for an elevator to arrive, the far left elevator eventually opening up with an accompanying ding. Walking into the elevator, Gohan hit the 28 button, watched the doors close, and then felt himself rising up.

It was a couple minutes later and some lovely elevator music later and the doors opened. Walking into a white carpeted hall, Gohan slowly walked passed off-white colored walls and dark brown oak doors. At about eyelevel of the doors were gold plaques proclaiming the room number of each door. Currently he was at Room 2805. It was going to be a little bit before he finally reached his destination.

As he passed Room 2810, the young man was forced to make a right turn, showing more of the same walls and doors. Soon enough, he was standing outside of Room 2817, staring at the door. Gohan was unsure of what he was supposed to do at this point. Was he supposed to walk in or knock? Was this even the place he needed to be? He shook his head. Now wasn't the time to be fretting—it was a time for action.

Letting decorum take over, Gohan rapped his knuckles against the smooth wood surface and waited. Soon, he saw the door knob turn and the lock clicking as the door slowly opened. The door stopped, leaving only a crack open, but enough for Gohan to see part of a man looking at him. "Paul Kay?" a gruff voice asked.

"Yes."

The door flung open and the man's arm shot out and grabbed Gohan by the shoulder. Before he knew it, he was forced into the hotel room. However, it turned out the man wasn't alone as two more men grabbed him and dragged him further into the room. Roughly, they threw him against one of the walls, Gohan letting out a cry as he slid down to the floor, slumped against the wall.

Faintly, Gohan heard one of the men said "Got 'em." It was clearly not directed towards him, but nevertheless he didn't like the sound of it. Looking up, he found himself in a very expensively furnished room. It was some sort of sitting room with a matching set of couches, chairs, and a table on one side of the room to the young man's left. The walls and carpeting were the same as the hall. Directly to his left was a large wooden shelf, a TV sitting right in the middle of it. He couldn't see whatever else was there, but that was currently the least of his problems.

There were three men total in the room, all of them wearing classy black suits. Each man was burly and looked as if it would take a tank to take even one of them down. Needless to say, Gohan was not a tank. More like a toy knife if he had to call himself anything.

None of them seemed to want to talk to him, satisfied with staring him down like a hawk. Considering that he was most likely the mouse, Gohan settled with staying perfectly still, staring back at them in fright.

An eternity seemed to pass before Gohan worked up the nerve to ask them a question. "C-could you tell me what's going—"

"Quiet," the closest man growled. "You will learn soon enough."

Gohan only had enough courage to shakily nod his head in response.

Eventually, a knock was heard at the door. The man closest to the door immediately turned and opened it slightly, peaking through the crack. A moment later, he opened the door fully and stepped to a side.

"Well, well, well, so we meet again."

Gohan's head perked up at that, his eyes widening as he saw the woman at the bar appear. She was looking down at him amused, her arms dangling at her sides as she sauntered towards him. Another man in a suit also entered the room, staying a step behind her the whole way. "Wh-what are you doing here?"

"You know, you're very charming," Hatchi spoke, ignoring Gohan's question outright. "If I didn't know any better, I would have thought you were a worthy opponent."

"Opponent?"

"I was expecting a weak, sniveling bookworm," she carried on. "And that's exactly what I got when you walked up to me. Imagine my surprise when you suddenly turned the table on me. You were playing me like a pro and it worked too. Very admirable."

She came to a stop right in front of Gohan and bent over, placing her hands on her knees as the fabric of her dress wrinkled. This gave Gohan the perfect view of her dangling cleavage, though he was a little too petrified at the moment to admire it once more. "But now it's the end of the road," Hatchi said as if she were speaking to a little boy. Perhaps that was the way it was in this situation. "And there's only one way out of this room for you."

Behind Hatchi, the man that had been following her reached into his coat and pulled out a gun. The gun made a clicking sound as the man switched off the safety. The very blood in Gohan's veins froze as he stared fearfully at the weapon.

Hatchi glanced behind her before she murmured out "No, I want to do this." Shifting his gaze onto her, Gohan watched a gentle smile grace the woman's red lips. "Consider it my farewell to you," she purred to him.

That was when she lifted up hand and extended her index finger, pointing it right in frong of Gohan's face. It took a moment, but eventually the tip of her finger began to glow with a bright light. If Gohan had been scared of the gun, he was horrified at the sight of that light. Dread filled his stomach as he instinctively pushed himself against the wall, doing what ever he could to put as much distance between him and that light. He could even feel heat radiating off her finger. His brain was screaming with wild abandon as it sensed danger. And that was what that light was: danger.

"Goodnight, sweet prince," Hatchi whispered to him.

And all Gohan knew after that was darkness.

* * *

**ShadowMajin would like to extend his thanks to Kanotari for helping with the hotel name. He really appreciates it.**


	9. Chapter 9

**This chapter is brought to you by ShadowMajin**

The sound of a wailing siren startled Gohan causing him to jump in his seat. Whipping his head to his left, he saw a fire truck race past him, heading further down the street. His breathing was heavy, the result of a fright-inspired adrenaline rush. Taking a deep breath, the young man pressed both hands onto his face and slid them towards the sides of his head. He let out the breath he was holding, feeling himself calm down. With a sigh, Gohan reached out and grabbed the steering wheel.

_Wait a second, steering wheel?_

Blinking his eyes, Gohan looked all around himself, seeing men and women walking up and down sidewalks that separated the street from large, tall skyscrapers, which indicated he was somewhere downtown. He was sitting in the driver's seat of his car; how he had gotten there he wasn't sure. Why _was_ he here?

Thinking back, the last thing he could remember was that he was in that rich hotel. Let's see, he had gotten into the hotel, went to the lounge, met…someone…someone…very attractive. A light blush appeared on Gohan's cheeks. The only thing that stuck out to him was that beautiful woman. How friendly she became towards the end of their conversation. Had he gotten her phone number? He really hoped so.

_Back to business._ Okay, after he had left the woman—what was her name again? Ha…Hatc…_Focus, you can think of her name later._ Okay, left the woman, went up the elevator, and then…nothing. There was nothing. Only a blur.

Gohan grimaced as he felt a headache grow inside of his skull; a police car driving by with its sirens wailing as loud as they could didn't help matters either. Finally, the pain in his head became too much and he stopped focusing on his fuzzy memory, letting out a pained gasp. He had thought he had been over this. As a child, there had been a few times where he had blank spots in his memory. One moment he was one place, the next a large amount of time had gone by and he had no recollection of it. The last time he had such a blackout was as a young teenager, when he had been late coming home from school. The moment he had entered the house, everything had gone black. The next thing Gohan knew, he was waking up in his bed with his father watching over him. He hadn't had one since.

Until now that is.

"This is not a good time for this," the young man muttered to himself. He wasn't exactly safe at the moment, what with two people being dead and some mystery person sending him cryptic emails. Yet there wasn't anything he could do about it, at least right now. Moving his hand to his pocket to fetch his car keys, he found them missing. With a frown, he tilted his head down to look at his lap to look at his pocket when he noticed the keys dangling from the ignition.

A little disturbed by the sight, Gohan reached up and grabbed his keys, turning them in the ignition and hearing his car engine rev to life. Looking over his shoulder, he didn't see any oncoming cars, so he shifted his driving gear into drive and pulled out onto the street, driving the same way the fire engine had.

As he drove, Gohan came to red light, which caused him to stop. With nothing else better to do, the young man began looking at the surrounding area, seeing people standing on the sidewalks, all of them looking in one direction. There were a few cars crossing the intersection in front of him, but it very odd to see only one or two cars moving at a time. With a frown, the young man looked to his left, the same direction as all the standing pedestrians, and his eyes widened as the blood in his veins froze.

A few blocks away stood a very tall building with a large hole at its upper floors. Although indistinguishable, Gohan was sure he could see right into one of the rooms of the building along with portions of the rooms surrounding it, be it on the floor above and below, the ones left and right of it, and the ones diagonally. The hole itself was singed black as if a fire had burnt it. Towards the bottom of the building were flashing lights belonging to police cars, ambulances, and fire trucks.

_Lord almighty…_

Unconsciously, Gohan's grip on the steering wheel tightened. What was going on here? How did that hole get there? Had a bomb gone off? If so, why hadn't he heard it? And what building was that? Squinting his eyes, the lad saw some letters towards the top of the building, proclaiming it to be the Carlton Gates. _Wasn't that the hotel I was supposed—_

A loud honk interrupted Gohan's thoughts. Jolting in his seat, he looked into his rearview mirror and saw the driver behind him yelling at him silently in his car. Looking through his windshield and saw the light had turned green without his knowing. Immediately, Gohan hit the gas pedal and drove through the intersection, driving down to the next light and taking a right. He had to get this place, the sooner the better. Something inside of him demanded that he did and who was he to ignore a gut instinct?

No one, that's who.

* * *

"You know, I've never been in a fancy ass hotel like this before."

"Then act like you have and be professional. We have a job to do," Tien reprimanded.

Sharpner rolled his eyes, but remained silent. He broke that silence a moment later when he murmured, "I bet we're wearing the cheapest suits to ever set foot in this hotel."

The bald man had to agree with that sentiment, though he never said it out loud. The Carlton Gates was the premier hotel in the city. By all rights they had no business standing across the street from it, much less actually being inside.

The two agents had strolled through a vacant lobby, something that had never happened in the history of the Carlton Gates. There were a few of its familiar customers over by the front desk, but Tien was willing to bet that they were checking-out rather than checking-in. A bomb suddenly going off in one of the rooms tended to do that.

Which explained why he and Sharpner were here in the first place. Since they were in town on the Ox-king case, they were the closest agents the agency had to begin the investigation. More agents were on their way, but the preliminary could be done in the meantime.

Once the two reached the elevators—one of which was wide open and ready to be used by them—they hopped a ride up to the 28th floor. That was the floor the officer-in-charge had informed them about.

After walking down the halls and coming to one filled with police officers—most of whom were interviewing the other guests on the floor—they found the door to one of the rooms wide open. Walking up to it, Tien and Sharpner entered the room, the blond agent giving a low whistle at what they found.

The entire far wall gone, along with part of the floor, ceiling, and surrounding walls. Closer to the door were four men dressed in suits, each one lying in a puddle of blood courtesy of small holes in their bodies. At various points of the carpeted floor were little yellow cards, each one with the letters A, B, C, and so on. Each card seemed to be next to what appeared to be discolorations and depressions in the carpet in the form of shoe prints. "You don't see this every day," Sharpner commented.

Tien stared down at the closest body, taking in the hole that lay between the man's eyes. That was most definitely the result of a bullet. Moving to the next guy, careful to avoid the yellow cards, he saw the same sight, a bullet wound right between his eyes.

The other two had different wounds though, one close to a wall and one off to his left. Looking at the one closest to the wall, the bald man immediately took note of the large, wet blood stain on his torso, a few holes scattered in the stain. _One…two…three…_ he mentally counted. Looking up to the other body, Tien saw he had a blood stain surrounding a bullet hole on his shoulder and one in the opposite side of his head from the shoulder wound.

"I've got bullet holes," Sharpner then announced, causing the bald agent to look up. With a pen, the blond was pointing at one such hole in the sheetrock of the wall. Looking from the hole to one of the bodies, the young man seemed to be judging something before looking towards the second body Tien had studied. "I think this one came from that fellow there."

Looking to Sharpner, Tien began to move himself until he stood in a direct line with the first body and the hole his partner was pointing out. As it turned out, he was standing right in front of a doorway—a quick look showed it to be the entrance to a bedroom. "Our perp was standing right here," he announced confidently. Raising his right arm, he extended his index finger and thumb, forming a pretend gun with them. Pointing it towards the second body, the bald man spoke "Bang," as he jerked his hand back. Repositioning it, he moved his hand towards the second body and repeated the action. When he moved it to the fourth body, he frowned slightly.

Lying on the floor next to the dead man was a gun. Looking to the wall to his right and then to the one to his left, Tien finally found the bullet hole he was searching for. The lack of blood though, signified that the dead man had missed his target. "That guy managed to get a shot at our perp, but misses. Our perp then shoots at him, but only gets his shoulder. The force of the shot knocks him off balance and allows the perp to finally take him down with a shot to the head."

Sharpner whistled again. "This guy is a pretty good shot. Four bullets to take down three guys." Looking to the body next to Tien, he then motioned his head towards it and asked "What about that guy?"

The bald man looked down at the body. "He wasn't worried about accuracy, that's for sure." Turning his attention towards the wall across from him, Tien searched for more bullet holes, causing him to frown when he didn't find any. Letting his eyes wander, he searched the floor and found nothing as well. When he tilted his head to look at the ceiling, it was there he found the elusive bullet holes. "He shot up," he spoke out loud. "I'd say he might have been kneeling or was at least lower than the guy he shot."

But that wasn't right. No, if Tien wasn't mistaken, the shooter had to be standing further to his left and right in between the third body and the wall. Was it possible there was a second shooter in the room?

"So he kills four people and sets off a bomb?" Sharpner interrupted the bald man's thoughts as he shook his head. "What the heck was he thinking? Why do something like this?"

"That's what we're here to find out," Tien answered as he began focusing on the cards on the floor. They were standard procedure for the forensics team, marking points of importance. In this case, it was likely that all these shoe prints in the carpet were made from the four dead men or the perp. They'd find out what exactly went down in this room and how later.

However, the print at Card E looked different from the others. Whereas the others were one entire shape, this one had two parts to it. A pointed triangle was towards the top with a small circle a couple inches away from it. Tilting his head, Tien studied it more, not quite understand it.

"Sharpner, what am I looking at?" he asked, causing the blond to carefully make his way over to the older man and look. "All the other cards have obvious footprints, but that one starts like the others, but suddenly stops."

"It's smaller too," the young man said. "I'll go ask someone."

Tien numbly nodded his affirmation as Sharpner took off towards the door. Turning his attention to the gigantic hole, he stared at the city landscape, faintly noticing the blue, cloudless sky and the sun just barely shining in from a side.

_Well, there's not much else I can do here._ Moving towards the door, minding his steps, it was then that the bald man caught sight of something by the door—more to the point over it. A small, black dome stuck out from the ceiling, which told Tien one thing: security camera. _If we're lucky, we just got everything that happened on tape._

Just as he left the room, Sharpner suddenly appeared next to him. "I found one of the forensic techs. He said it was a footprint belonging to a high-heeled shoe."

Tien halted at that. "Are you telling me a woman was in that room?" he questioned.

"Yeah, though where she is now is anyone's guess."

Tien fell silent for a moment before he turned to one of the nearest officers. "You," he called out, attracting the man's attention. "Have forensics run a full search of the room. Fingerprints, shoe prints, blood spatter, everything."

"Uhh Sir? They've already done that," the policeman replied.

"Then have them do it again. Leave no stone unturned." Turning away, Tien marched down the hallway, Sharpner matching his pace slightly behind him.

"What's up, Tien?" the blond asked.

"We're heading to the Security Room," the agent replied. "I saw a security camera in the room, so if we're lucky—"

"We might have gotten everything on camera," his partner finished.

* * *

The Security Room was state of the art. Several metal desks were aligned in rows with high tech computers and recording equipment sitting on them. The walls had larger screens built into them, showing bigger images of certain security feeds throughout the hotel. Each computer monitor was divided into four panels, each panel showing a different image. It was just like any security room at any other five-star hotel.

But what this room had that the others didn't was a dead body lying next to one of the desks.

Tien stared down at the body with his hands in his pants pockets, aware of the puddle of blood seeping out. It had taken two bullets to kill him: one dead center in the chest and the other in the man's forehead. The agent highly doubted this was the work of anyone other than the man that had killed four others on the 28th floor. There was only one reason why their perpetrator would come here and it was very likely the same reason why he and his partner were here.

That meant their chances of coming away with security footage were next to nil.

Currently, Sharpner and a member of the hotel's security team were running through the security footage. They had already determined that both digital and physical footage of Room 2817 was missing, along with any footage of the entire 28th floor. They were currently looking through other room feeds for anything they could get.

That was something for more technologically inclined people. Tien was not that type of person. Yeah, he could use a computer, but he was never a fan of digging through computer data. However, he was more interested in the dead man lying on the floor. If he wasn't mistaken, the man was wearing the same kind of suit as the men in the hotel room. Maybe there was a connection between them.

"Has anyone fingerprinted this guy?" Tien called out.

The hotel security man answered "Yeah they did. They also found his fingerprints on one of the other computers."

"Any idea of what he was doing?"

"One of your tech guys said he was looking at the security feeds for the 28th floor. Same guy managed to figure out he was deleting footage for some of the rooms in the hotel."

"Let me guess, the 28th floor," Sharpner spoke up.

"Quite a rabbit's hole we're in," Tien commented. Another piece of this confusing puzzle had landed in his lap, but unfortunately he wasn't sure where it went. Five men and a woman went into a hotel room, resulting in a bomb going off and four of those men dying. All the while this guy here came here to keep an eye on them, most likely getting rid of any evidence of their presence. Considering that one of the men that went to the hotel room was the only one to walk out of the hotel room alive, Tien wasn't sure what was going on. What was the point in having a man stationed here? What was so important that they needed to erase any trace of their existence?

Sharpner growled then. "Not only is that entire floor gone, so is the hotel lobby and lounge. Every elevator is missing footage for at least an hour. It's like we have ghosts running around this damn place!"

The security man snorted. "And we don't even have the Ghosttrappers to call."

A small smirk appeared on Tien's face. He wasn't much of a movie-goer, but he had seen that movie. There was something funny of watching comedians running around, trying to trap ghosts.

_Wait…trap!_

"Idiot," Tien reprimanded himself, catching the attention of the other two men in the room. "This entire thing was a trap."

"Mind explaining, boss?" Sharpner asked.

"You have five men go into a hotel room and only one comes out, a four-on-one situation that should result in the one getting killed—except that doesn't happen. All the while another man is watching the security feed to make sure no one knows they were even here. Our perp was being set up and killed his way out of here."

"And what about the woman?"

Tien shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe she was just the lure to get our perp in the room. I don't really know."

Sharpner sighed. "And it's not like we have enough on our plates already. First the senator and now this; why does this crazy stuff keep happening to us?"

"This is pretty normal," the bald man admitted. "Not many people can handle this pace. If it's getting to be too much for you, you'd be better off putting in your resignation."

Sharpner tilted his head to look at the agent, an eyebrow raised. "Is this how you usually get rid of your partners?"

"A couple of them. They were the smart ones."

Sharpner just shook his head, his blond hair falling all over his shoulders. "You're not getting rid of me that easily." Returning his attention back to the computer monitor, he then asked "What cameras have we not check out?"

"Well, most of the other floors," the security man said. "The bathrooms, the parking garage, the kitchen, outside—"

"Check those," Sharpner interrupted. "Specifically the ones outside the front door."

"Okay," the man said and get to work. As the sound of his typing fingers filled the room, Tien strolled over to the computer to watch. It only took a few moments before the sight of the front door appear, the doorman standing next to it patiently. Hitting the rewind button, the image began moving in reverse, people walking in and out of the hotel backwards. For the most part, neatly groomed people were the only people on screen.

"Stop," Tien suddenly said. "Go back, slowly," he commanded, the hotel security man doing as told. Bit by bit, the security feed moved forward until a man appeared on screen and stood next to the front door, looking completely unlike the other guests. "There!"

The image came to a halt, showing the figure of a young man with spiky black hair leaving the hotel. "Hello," Sharpner said to no one in particular. "Look who we have here."

Tien straightened out his posture as his arms crossed over his chest. "Mr. Paul Kay, what were you doing here?"

A wide smirk appeared on his partner's face. "Looks like we have visual confirmation on our Ox-King suspect." His face then lost the smile, his shoulders slumping. "I can't believe it, I was wrong."

Tien looked at the young man oddly. "Wrong about what?"

"He's the one wearing the cheapest thing ever to enter this hotel."

* * *

Gohan hurried into his motel room, swinging the door shut behind him. Making a beeline for the beds, he sat down at the foot of the bed not covered in luggage. Leaning over, he ran his fingers through his hair as he rested his elbows against his knees. What the hell was going on here? With every step he took, Gohan found himself getting more and more lost. For every answer that came to him, five more questions appeared. It was enough to make his head pound out of frustration.

During his drive back to the motel, he slowly recalled a few things. First was arriving at the hotel room that woman had told him to go to. The hotel business card she had given him was still in his pocket, so he knew it was at Room 2817. There were some men in the room too, and they weren't the friendly type as he recalled. Everything after that was a blur, though Gohan knew he had been scared at the time. Then came that omnipresent blackness until he woke up in his car. Any attempt to figure out what was in the blur or the blackness just resulted in giving him a headache. Hopefully something from it all would come to him if he didn't think about it.

Yet, he still wondered how he had gotten to his car. Did someone carry him to it? Was it one of those men in the hotel room? And what about that giant hole in the hotel? It looked as if a bomb had gone off. Looking to the TV, part of Gohan wanted to turn it on and check to see if the news had any information about it. However, a much larger part wasn't quite ready to hear what had been found out so far. Considering what hotel was involved, it was more than likely the press would be talking about it for the next few days, so anything they learned today would also be reported on tomorrow.

With a sigh, the young man looked away from the TV and settled his sights back on Goten's luggage. Combing over them with his eyes, he eventually found himself staring at the longer black case he had yet to open. It was a few moments before he summoned enough motivation to stand up and walk over to the case, laying it on its side and unclasping the buckles.

The moment he opened the lid, Gohan soon wished he hadn't. Lying in a bed of foam matting were pieces of a gun and a big one too. The young man could pick out the body of a rifle in the center of the bedding. Above it was a sniper scope and below a long gun barrel. Towards the bottom right hand corner was a small box, one that Gohan wasn't sure what its purpose was for. Hesitantly, he reached a fidgeting hand to the box and slowly removed it from the case. Using his wrist to rotate it, he soon found one end was open, revealing a long, pointed bullet. It was an ammo clip, the Son man realized a moment later.

Lowering the box down, he let it fall back onto the foam betting, the clip landing with a silent thud. Why? Why did his brother have a sniper rifle? What earthly reason could he have to possess such a weapon? That thing was only good for killing people after all.

Realization then snuck up right behind him and clobbered his good senses. This was the gun that had killed Senator Ox-King, which meant that Goten was the sniper. There wasn't any other explanation.

_"You get Ox-King by the window…"_ Goten's voice echoed in his head. That man he called brother, he had used him. He wanted Gohan to get the senator in that window so he could shoot him. Shooting his hands up to his head, the young man grabbed his hair and began pulling, letting out a strangled cry of pain.

He was an idiot. After everything that happened, why had he trusted a man he had never known? For all Gohan knew, Goten wasn't even his real name. Perhaps he was just another assassin that worked with his father—most likely he was here to finish Goku's failed mission. Releasing his grip on his hair, the Son man dropped his arms limply to his sides.

Now what did he do? His entire family was full of liars. This trip to learn more about his father was becoming more than Gohan had bargained for. He…he wanted nothing more to do with it. Yeah, everything stopped now. He would forget this fool's errand of his, take everything he found linking Goku and Goten to him and these murders and burn it.

Listlessly, he let his eyes hover over the rifle. Eventually he noticed the bullet chamber and a thought struck him. Considering that Goten had used the gun, there would have to be a bullet casing still in the chamber, assuming that he was in a hurry to put the rifle back in the case before coming to Gohan's rescue. With both hands, he reached for the chamber and fumbled with it as he tried to open. It took a few tries, but he was able to open the chamber.

And inside of the chamber was a bullet matching the same one he had found in the clip. Staring at it, it only took a second for Gohan to realize it was still whole, unfired. Removing the bullet, the young man stared at it for a few moments before quickly setting it down on the bedding and reaching for the clip. Hastily, he removed every bullet in the clip until he had emptied it, finding that it was missing a bullet. Looking between the bullets in his hand and the one he had removed from the bullet chamber, a new thought dawned on him.

Goten hadn't fired. He probably meant to, but he hadn't. Yet a bullet had blown out half of Ox-King's head. Was…was it possible that there had been another assassin?

The more he thought about it, the more Gohan latched onto it. It was desperate to hope that was the case, but as his mind began to replay what had happened in the old motel room after the shooting, the more he could pick out Goten's genuine concern and bafflement. Could he have been earnest when he said he wanted to help find out why Ox-King was killed?

Gohan swallowed. He couldn't be mistaken about that scene. Even if it had been over pieces of brain and blood, they had formed a brotherly bond. Although it hurt to know that the younger man had lied about some parts about himself, they had just met each other. He didn't know if he could trust Gohan anymore than Gohan could trust him. Would he have told Gohan about everything before that car bomb had killed him? The young man certainly hoped so, but that was pretty much a moot point now.

And that was another thing. Someone had gone out of their way to kill Goten. Why? What was the motive behind that? Gohan eyes narrowed as he began to consider these questions. He couldn't stop now, not when people were being murdered left and right. Heck, these people were after him now; there was no telling if they would just let him walk away from this.

No, the only way open to Gohan was to move forward. To expose these people for their crimes and get justice—not only for Ox-King, but his brother as well.

No more Mr. Nice Son Gohan.


	10. Chapter 10

**This Chapter is brought to you by ShadowMajin**

"You have an update for me?"

The messenger stood in a darkened room and he could barely see inches in front of his face, but that was how the boss always liked things. Shadows that played on the edge of his vision made him anxious to get this over with and he gulped as he shifted on the creaking wooden boards, staring at the thick blackness. No one had the slightest clue to his boss's identity and considering the business they were in, that was perhaps for the best. "Ox-King won't be a problem for us anything longer," he reported. "The same goes for Kakarot's Spawn. We're not sure who got Ox-King, but we know the Android took out Spawn. However, she found out Spawn was teaming up with someone else and tried to take him out. As far as we can tell, her team has been wiped out and she's MIA, possibly KIA if she hasn't betrayed us too."

A short silence filled the room before the boss replied "Kakarot…again. I thought we were finished with him."

"He wouldn't have done what he did had he not had a plan in place," the messenger reminded him. "He may pretend to be a fool, but he's anything but."

"True. Do you have any information concerning Spawn's accomplice?"

He was prepared for this question, even though he wasn't exactly thrilled with what he would have to report. Although the boss was a patient man, he did have his limits and returning nearly empty-handed was unacceptable. "No ID currently, but our source in the NAIE says they have a suspect in mind. They're only referring to him as 'Paul Kay'—"

"Paul Kay? Isn't that one of the identities we gave our agents?"

"Yes, it's one of Kakarot's unused ones. Considering that this mystery person was with Spawn, it's highly likely that he gave the identity to his accomplice."

Another silence passed before the boss grumbled, "This is becoming more trouble than it's worth. I want this 'Paul Kay' dealt with immediately. No more kid gloves. Send the Demon."

The messenger nodded his head in affirmation, even if the boss couldn't see him. Or maybe he could, considering that he was always in this room. "Yes Sir."

* * *

Gohan sat in front of the computer, his shoulder hunched over as he nervously looked around himself. Being in a public place wasn't a good idea for him, especially since someone already made an attempt on his life. Yet, he needed to be here. Where else was he going to be able to do his research? The internet only had so much he could access.

Considering that what he wanted to do was read what was contained in the Malone-Envall Bill, there were only so many places that would allow him access what he wanted. One such place was the law library at the city university. Anything and everything that dealt with the law could be found here. The only hurdle that he had was getting access to the library since only law students were allowed here.

It was at that point that Goten had risen from the grave to lend him his help in the form of his laptop. After exploring the programs that his brother had installed on it, Gohan had found the program his brother had used to get him a job at the Blue Star Tribune. It had taken an hour and another of his father's passports, but he was now Himura Kenshin, Orange Star University law student.

And all of that led him here. Although he had been nervous as hell when he first arrived and asked for access, everything had gone swimmingly so far. Returning his eyes to his screen, Gohan let his fingers fly on the keyboard, searching for anything on Malone-Engvall. He was currently in the university's database and with a click of his mouth, a page full of results with the words Malone and Engvall highlighted appeared. Scrolling through them, he read the summaries each result provided. Unfortunately, there was no sign of the actual bill.

Going back to the search bar, Gohan added a couple more words into the bar and redid the search. A few new results appeared and after reading them, one of them seemed promising. Clicking on the link, his eyes lit up when an article summary appeared and detailed what the document was. Opening the document, a PDF program window opened up and loaded. A moment later and a digital page appeared with the words **Malone-Engvall Bill** in large print at the top.

Greedily, Gohan began reading the document. Word by word, line by line, and page by page flew by as he studiously examined every part of the bill. It soon became apparent that this was some sort of federal agency regulation document full of various earmarks for infrastructure projects. A part of Gohan wondered which part Ox-King was referring to that made it so bad. Although he wasn't anything close to being an expert with the inner workings of writing laws, he felt as if this was just your run-of-the-mill spending bill, or at least that's what his political science professor would have told him. Was there really anything wrong with this bill or was it just disgruntled partisan-laced mutterings of a disapproving lawmaker.

With a sigh, Gohan leaned back in his chair and shut his eyes. He needed a moment to rest his eyes after staring at that computer screen for so long. When he opened them, he looked at the page number and nearly groaned. He was at page 10 out of nearly 150 pages. _Dear Lord, why did they have to make this thing so long?_

"Hey, psst!"

Gohan jerked his head up and looked from side to side. To his left he found a young-looking woman staring at him from the computer next to his, her blue eyes boring into him intently. "Are you working on Professor Yellow's assignment?" she whispered to him.

Oh boy, an actual student here. Shaking his head, he replied softly back "Sorry, I'm working on something else."

The woman seemed taken back by that. "What the heck else could you possibly be working on?"

"A different assignment," he shrugged before turning back to his computer. "Sorry I can't help you." As Gohan began reading the document again, he continued to feel the woman's stare on him. It was almost unnerving for him, but he tried his best to ignore her. As it turned out, she would not be ignored.

"Why don't we help each other out?" she said again as she moved her scooted her chair over to his. Looking back at her, Gohan was startled by her offer. Was this what law students usually did? If so, there was no way he could really help her with her work other than to make sure she failed it.

"Umm, I'm not sure that's a good idea," he replied uneasily.

She frowned at him as she raised one of her hands up to her face to move a strand of long black hair from her face. "Why not?"

"B-because…" Gohan trailed off, trying to rack his brain for any possible excuse he could come up with. Unfortunately, he was coming up with nothing. "Well…"

The woman rolled her eyes as she moved in closer to Gohan, one of the pigtails she had formed with her hair brushing against his shoulder. "Just tell me what you're doing so I can help you."

Gohan gulped. He hadn't been expecting this. Were all law students this pushy? "O…okay. Umm, I'm just reading this document. I heard from one of the…uhh…professors that he saw something odd with it and I wanted to see what it was."

The woman paused before looking up at him. "That's it? You're looking at this paper instead of studying? How the hell did you get enough free time to do that?"

Gohan raised his hands up to try and pacify the woman. "I told you it wasn't a good idea for you to help. I'm sorry if I misled you or anything like that."

"Whatever," she said as she rolled her eyes. Looking at him again, she then stated "I don't think I've seen you around before. What's your name?"

On instinct, Gohan blurted out "Gohan." A moment later and he was mentally slapping himself. Why the hell did he just give some random woman he had just met his real name? He was a wanted man after all; giving out his name was just asking for trouble. Unfortunately, he couldn't take it back now, so he might as well try to make sure he didn't raise any suspicions in her head. "What's yours?"

"I'm Videl," she answered as she raised a hand up to him. "It's nice to meet you."

Giving her a small smile, Gohan took her hand and gave it a shake. Taking a good look at her too, he had to admit that she was pretty. It also helped that her white dress shirt had the top couple of buttons undone, giving a nice hint at of cleavage. "It was nice to meet you," he eventually replied.

Videl continued to hold his gaze before looking back to his computer. "You know, this would be easier if you just printed it out."

_You have to be kidding me._"Umm, you do realize that it's 150 pages, right?"

The woman looked back to him and gave him a look that she probably reserved for her mentally-handicapped brother. "And your point? It's much easier to read the whole thing if we split it up instead of the both of us just staring at the same computer screen."

Gohan stared at her dumbly. _Is she _still_ trying to help me out?_What was she getting out of this? Why would she want to help out when it had nothing to do with her, not to mention that he was interfere with her own studies. Didn't she have that assignment from that Yellow guy? "B-but what about your own work?"

Videl looked to her own computer for a moment and then turned back to him. "I can spare a day before I have to get back to it." Holding a hand up to wave towards Gohan's own screen, she added, "Besides, you've got me curious."

A part of Gohan was immediately cautious. He had spent this entire time trying to dissuade her from even looking at his document and yet she was still trying to help? Something was off about this…

"Or do you not want my help?" Videl suddenly said, her eyes boring into Gohan, challenging him to admit as much.

In that instant, Gohan felt his resolve crumble. Yeah, he had no backbone when it came to women, so sue him. "I-I'd appreciate it," he mumbled out, earning him a winsome smile from Videl.

"Good. Now print that thing out and we'll go somewhere else so we can concentrate better. Maybe your place? Mine's a bit crowded at the moment."

* * *

This case was turning out bigger than Tien had ever imagined. Although he knew more agents of the NAIE were being sent in, he had no idea that included the agency director.

And today was starting out to be such a good day too.

NAIE Director Roshi had been the head of the agency since beyond Tien's time. The man knew the job, that went without question. Considering that he had had decades to get acclimated to the position, you would hope he knew what he was doing. There was even a rumor that he had begun growing his long, white beard the day he was appointed.

Regardless, Tien held the old man in high regards. Although it wasn't often that Roshi did field work, there was no one better at the agency. And the fact that he was in Orange Star City meant that something had sparked his interest and that the bald man and his partner were a precarious step away from having their case taken away.

And considering that the old man was responsible for a majority of the sexual harassment lawsuits aimed at the agency over the years, having a case pulled from you by an alleged sexual deviant was not something to put on a resume.

Currently, Tien and Sharpner were back at their hotel, which was currently being commodore into a temporary agency headquarters. As was proper with his rank, Roshi had taken over the Presidential Suite and was sitting behind a large oak desk. From behind red-rimmed sunglasses, the old man stared at the two agents. The three of them were alone in the room, which meant both Tien and Sharpner had to tread carefully.

"So where are we with the Ox-King Assassination," Roshi asked as he leaned back into his plush leather chair, his iron-pressed suit moving with his body.

"We have determined the assassination method," Tien immediately reported. "Our assassin was positioned in a building across the street from the senator's office. He got a clear shot of the vic through the office window and took him out."

"Any suspects?"

The bald man shook his head in the negative. "None unfortunately. However, we do have an eye witness that was in the room when the senator was killed. He disappeared shortly after the first responders sealed off the crime scene."

Roshi's head tilted up upon hearing that. "Do you have an identification of this witness?"

Sharpner took the opportunity to answer that question. "He goes by an alias, 'Paul Kay.' He had a meeting set up with Ox-King at the time of the assassination. He was claiming to be a reporter for the Blue Star Tribune, but we have since discovered that he forged employment records so he could get access to the senator."

"You make it sound like he might have been involved in the shooting," the director pointed out. "And considering his fleeing of the scene, I would have to agree with that sentiment."

"The shot that killed Ox-King definitely came from outside the building," Tien interjected. "What Kay's involvement is still unknown, but it would be too early to rule anything out as we stand."

"Agreed." Roshi then leaned forward in his seat, his fingers entwining together on the desk. "I'll be frank gentlemen, I'm not impressed with your work on this case. This was supposed to be handled quickly and quietly, and while you have succeeded in the latter, you have failed in the former."

"It would help if we weren't pulled to every other crime scene in the city," Sharpner muttered under his breath.

Unfortunately, Roshi heard that. "And that's no excuse for not doing your job," he sternly reprimanded him. "If you can't swim in these waters, Agent, then I highly suggest you leave. Don't think I won't hesitate to remove you myself."

Sharpner immediately straightened his posture. "Sorry, Sir!"

Tien glanced at his partner, resisting the urge to physically shake his head in disapproval. Still, what he did say had merit. "He does have a point, Director," he spoke up. "We've been called to two different crime scenes during our investigation, yet they have been helpful in our investigation."

Roshi looked torn between voicing his disapproval of Tien and letting his curiosity get the better of him. Fortunately, his curiosity won out. "Explain yourself."

"We were called to a car bombing in a motel parking lot on the south side of the city. During our interviews of the motel residence, we found out that Kay had been staying at that motel along with a partner. The bombing had killed Kay's friend and Kay hightailed it out of there."

Roshi seemed taken back by that. "Who was he with?"

"As it so happens, it was with a real Blue Star Tribune reporter, Son Goten. A little digging into Son's background and we found that he was in town to interview Ox-King and Kay's forged employment records also showed that he was partnered with him. Son also had a history with the senator. The two of them butted heads over various issues Ox-King blacklisted Son."

"Which would explain why Kay was with Son. Still, it is very suspicious that he's at the scene of two different murders."

Tien fell silent as Sharpner coughed uncomfortably.

"Let me guess, three murders."

Tien swallowed as he bought himself time to compose his next words carefully. "The Carlton Gates Bombing, we found video evidence that puts Kay at the hotel right before the bomb went off."

Although he couldn't see it, Tien could feel Roshi's eyes switch focus between and Sharpner. "So we at least have visual confirmation. What about forensic evidence?"

"Every scene he's been at has been wiped down for fingerprints," Sharpner rejoined the conversation. "We have hair samples, but nothing to fully ID him."

Roshi moved to lean back in his seat once more, one of his hands stroking his beard thoughtfully. "He's a careful man," he murmured to himself. "Tell me more about the Carlton Bombing."

"There were four bodies foundin the hotel room where the bomb went off," Sharpner continued, "None of them were killed or touched by the blast. Instead they were shot by a pistol. A fifth man was found in the Security Room of the hotel, shot by the same gun. Preliminary reports show the shooter killed all the men from the bedroom doorway, blow up half the room, then went down to kill the man in the Security Room and erase any security footage of him in the hotel."

"Anything else, Tien?" Roshi asked as he turned his head to look at the bald man.

Tien paused for a moment, carefully considering what he was about to say. "Sharpner reported everything that we've found out at the hotel, aside from the possible presence of a woman."

"And your personal feelings?"

_Here goes._"I think there might have been two shooters," he answered. "Those men in the hotel room were there for a reason. I think they got their hands on someone the shooter knew and had taken them to that room. The shooter had gotten into the room and surprised them by leaping out of the bedroom and killing them. The shooter's friend managed to get their own gun and killed one of the men."

Sharpner was looking at Tien by now, his face twisted in disbelief. Roshi, on the other hand, seemed to be considering his words. "So five men dead, possibly two shooters, and a woman," the old man said. "Or maybe one of the shooters was the woman. It would explain her presence."

"Perhaps, perhaps not," Tien shrugged. "I won't make any assumptions until Forensics completes its report of the crime scene."

"That would be prudent." The old man then sighed before a stern look appeared on his face. "For now, I will give you two some leeway with your cases. Your link between them is very weak though. I highly suggest you either bring in Kay or find something stronger to connect all of these cases, otherwise I will take them away from you. Is that understood?"

"Yes Sir," the two agents said in unison.

"Good. You're dismissed."

Turning around, Tien and Sharpner made their way to the door. However, before they could leave, Roshi called out to them once more. "Oh, by the way, if either of you see Candace, be sure to send her in. I need her…help…with something…" He chuckled lightly, stroking his white beard.

"Yes Sir," Tien repeated before leaving the room with Sharpner at his heels. The moment they were in the hall, the two of them sighed.

"That sucked," the blond man said succinctly.

"For once, you and I agree," the bald agent replied. "But he's right, we need to make our case stronger and we're hanging everything on the coincidence that one man was at each of the crimes."

Sharpner looked downtrodden at that. "So what do we do now?"

"Keep working. Sooner or later something will break our way. We just need to be ready to jump on it when that occasion arises."

The blond nodded his head. "So where to?"

Before Tien could answer, an attractive brunette walked by, her arms loaded with case files. "Hey boys," she greeted them with a winsome smile.

Out of the corner of his eye, Tien saw Sharpner light up. "Hey Candace," the younger man returned the greeting. "Looking good as always. Oh, by the way…"

The bald man knew instantly what his partner was about to say and purposefully interrupted him. "You have a good day."

Candace paused at that before nodding her head. "Uhh, thanks Agent Shinhan. I-I will."

The two men watched the woman head down the hall before Sharpner looked at Tien curiously. "What was up with that? She acted as if you never talk to her."

"That's cause I don't," Tien answered. "Besides, we have other things to do."

"But what about Roshi? He said to tell her to see him."

"Think for one moment. Roshi has single-handedly gotten our agency hit with twenty sexual harassment charges in the last twelve months. We don't need another one at the moment and I rather keep Candace from becoming charge number twenty one."


	11. Chapter 11

**This chapter is brought to you by ShadowMajin**_  
_

_Well, so much for not being Mr. Nice Guy…_

Gohan sat at the foot of the motel bed, a pile of papers to either side of him. The stack to his left was blank while the stack to the right was filled with inked text—the Malone-Engvall Bill. Ever since he had returned to his motel room, he had been reading the bill, trying to figure out what exactly was wrong with it. It had to at least been an hour since he had been at it, maybe even two, and he wasn't sure if he had found anything yet. It was a bit frustrating to say the least.

But, he wasn't alone.

With his eyes, he glanced over to the other bed, a young woman lying on her side on top of it; her own two stacks of papers resting in front of her. They had split the bill in half using the logic that they could cover more ground that way. Videl had her eyes focused sharply on the text and seemed to analyze every single word she read—a product of years of intense study in law school. Considering she knew what she was doing, Gohan felt the young woman was eventually going to have to read over his part of the bill. All of the legal jargon and writing style had been steadily making less and less sense to him.

For a moment, the young man's eyes focused on the jut of the girl's hip, the way her arm rested in the curvature of her body. Videl had made herself quite comfortable and the more hormonal part of Gohan zeroed in on her pose—another reason why he was having trouble reading the bill.

Forcing his eyes back to the bill, Gohan took in a deep breath before letting it out noisily. _Focus, Gohan, focus. You can stare at the pretty girl later. _Looking towards the top of the page, the young man found the place he had ended and began reading again. Since the file had been in the PDF format, the words were in a larger font, which made reading somewhat faster than had the print been small. In a few minutes, he set the page down on the pile to his left and picked up the one on top of the right pile.

_"..and henceforth, all parties associated within the defense program entitled the Brown Bush Protocol, appropriations mentioned previously in this legal bill shall hereto for be approved for federal use,"_ the document stated. _"Further appropriations shall also be compensated for services rendered in the association of Securities et al in accordance of previously invested liabilities. Additional appropriations herewith services of potential and future benefit as of here are requested and approved."_

"You seem frustrated."

Gohan paused before looking over to Videl. Her blue eyes were staring back at him with a hint of amusement within them. "I guess I am," he responded with a slight sigh in his voice.

"How so?"

How did he put this into words? "Well, it seems like this entire thing is repeating itself over and over. And there are all these words I don't think I've ever seen before and I've had to reread several pages just to make sure I actually understood what I was reading... and I still don't think I have the right interpretation."

The young woman gave him a small smile. "That's probably because you aren't getting the right interpretation, but that's to be expected out of a first year. All of what you said is standard practice. Since most politicians are lawyers, they do repeat themselves and put new tidbits here and there. Most people get bored with reading the legal documents and end up giving up, which is the intent."

Gohan stared at her disbelievingly. "You mean they intentionally try to make people not read their stuff?"

"Yep, that way they can slip in all kinds of stuff to give themselves an advantage."

"No wonder they have a school just dedicated to figuring this stuff out."

"Don't forget they want to pass these tactics down to future generations too."

Gohan's shoulders sagged. Already, he could feel his patience with the bill evaporating with every passing second. To even think that the document could and most likely should have been shorter was enough to make him want to tear his hair out. "So how far have you gotten?" He asked wearily, unsure if he really wanted to know the answer.

"I'm in the hundreds," Videl answered. When the two of them had split up the bill, Gohan had taken the first half while the young woman had taken the second. "Page one hundred and twentyyyyy…four."

Upon seeing the young man's eyes widen comically, Videl began to laugh. "Trust me," she said between giggles, "it gets easier once you know what you're doing."

Helplessly, Gohan looked to his page number and nearly cried. "I'm only at forty six and I had a ten page head start!"

"Hello, law student here." Videl shifted her position on the bed, moving to set on the edge of it facing Gohan. "What have you read so far?"

"Well, as far as I can tell it's just placing money in different government programs," Gohan replied. "I guess this is some sort of spending bill."

Videl nodded her head. "That's what I got too. So far I haven't seen anything out of place so far."

"Not even randomly capitalized words?" the young man tried to joke. For some reason, the previous two pages had a few words that were capitalized that Gohan hadn't thought should be capitalized.

"Depends on what words they are," the woman replied. "What are the words you think are wrong?"

Gohan looked down to his current page and immediately looked at the word "Securities." Extending his arm out, he held the paper to the young woman and said "Towards the top of the page," he informed her. "The word 'securities' is capitalized."

Videl took the page from him and began reading, a frown appearing on her face. "Has the bill done this before?"

"Yeah, a couple times."

"Then the word is a noun of some kind. A title or a name of something. There's a reason it's capitalized."

This time it was Gohan's turn to frown as he felt taken back. "What could Securities be, then?"

Videl sighed as she handed the page back. "Well, the only sort of securities I can think of concerning the government would be defense and finances. Your portion could just be appropriating money to a defense project."

"And finances?"

"Securities can be stocks, bonds, or some sort of investment with scheduled payments. Honestly, there's not a lot it could be."

Gohan turned his attention back to the page, focusing on the part that said _"Further appropriations shall also be compensated for services rendered in the association of Securities et al in accordance of previously invested liabilities." _Staring at it, he then stood up and moved to sit next to Videl, who watched him curiously. "Read this part here," he pointed at the main text he wanted her to look at. As he watched her read it, Gohan said "Doesn't that sound like they're giving out some sort of payment?"

"Yeah, it does," she answered. "But I'm not sure what you're getting at."

For a moment, Gohan began to wonder how much he should tell her. _"That bill should have never left committee,"_ Ox-King's voice echoed in the young man's head. _"Unfortunately, the less everyone knows about this, the better off they'll be."_

Was this as far as he wanted to drag this girl in? Yeah, she volunteered to help him read the document, but she could only be so much help when she didn't have the full picture. Considering that anyone who had an inkling of what he knew ended up dying, Gohan wasn't sure he wanted to add her to the ever-growing death count.

Videl noticed his hesitation and let out a sigh before looking at him sternly. "You know, this would be easier if I knew what you're looking for. Can't you just tell me what's so special about this bill?"

Gohan slowly scooted down the bed, putting some space between him and Videl. "Trust me, the less you know the better."

The young woman's face hardened at that. "What's that supposed to mean? You think I can't handle it?"

Okay, he really needed this girl to get the hint that she should back off. "I'm sure you're very capable," he began, but was then interrupted.

"But what? You don't think I can cut it? I'll have you know I'm at the top of my class. And from what I can tell, you're just some first year student who's just trying to keep their head over water." Videl's face scowled. "You know, I don't have to help you, but I was nice enough to and you have a crap way of showing gratitude."

_Oh, great... she hates me. _Gohan grimaced at the thought. He never had been a person that stood up to conflict very well. "Believe me, I'm very grateful for your help," he said quickly. "It's just…this is very important to…umm, certain people. The type who wouldn't like it seeing the light of day."

Videl raised an eyebrow at them, her face showing she wasn't impressed. "What, are these guys like The Mob or something? Nice excuse, but I'm not buying it."

"Trust me, they're dangerous people."

"Trust you? I just met you! How the heck can I trust someone I don't know anything about?"

_She just won't give up! _Gohan stared at the woman helplessly. Perhaps he should just let her get angry at him. She'd then barge out of the room and that would end any involvement she had with this.

Before he could respond to her, Videl narrowed her eyes. "You're not really a student at the school, are you?"

_Aw crap, busted. _"No, not really."

"Then what were you doing at the school? How did you even get into the law library? Only law students are even allowed in there!"

With a sigh, Gohan sagged his shoulders. "I can't tell you," he answered resignedly. "Like I said, the less you know about this, the better."

"How did you get in?" she pressed. "Did you steal someone's school ID? Or did you make some fake paper work? You do realize identity theft is against the law, right?"

Gohan pressed his hands against his face as he began to feel his frustration with the girl grow. "No, just listen to me."

"And why should I? You already lied to me about being a student at the school. Heck, I bet you even lied about your name."

"No, I didn't lie about that."

"So you did lie," Videl responded with a triumphant smirk on her face. "By saying you didn't lie about your name implies you did lie about something else. So how much of your story is pure crap? Your claim that this is Mob involved or whatever already disproves that a teacher gave you this assignment, and it's very possible you're also making up the Mob cover-up too."

The young man's fingers pressed firmly into his skull before he finally burst out "Alright! Alright, I'll tell you. Geez."

Although that proud look was still on her face, Videl's eyes narrowed a moment later. "Is this going to be the truth this time? I won't stand for anything less."

_Does this girl ever give up? _With a sigh of resignation, Gohan replied "Do you know who Senator Ox-King is?"

Videl frowned. "How could I not? His death has been plastered onto every newspaper and channel for the last week."

For a moment, Gohan's memory flashed before his eyes, the sight of Ox-King's head exploding with blood appearing before it disappeared. Wincing at the recollection, the young man pushed on. "Well, I was doing an interview with him before he died. He's the one that told me there was something fishy with this bill."

Videl's eyes widened as she had a sudden intake of breath. "You were there when he died?" she practically exclaimed.

Okay, perhaps he needed to fudge his story a little. It wasn't going to help his case if she found out he was hiding out from the police due to that incident. "No, I mean I saw him before he was killed, the day before to be exact. When I first heard he had been killed, that part of the conversation immediately popped into my head."

The young woman's shocked expression slowly began to dissolve into a more inquisitive one. "So you thought his assassination might have something to do with Malone-Engvall?"

"Yeah. The last few days have been a bit hectic for me so today was the first time I've had to actually look at the bill."

Videl stared at him for a few moments before she narrowed her eyes at him once more. "How do I know this is the truth? You're not lying to me again, are you?"

On first instinct, Gohan wanted to profess his innocence as to lying. However, something in the back of his head crushed that instinct and sent him a different reaction. With a shrug, he said "You know, the door's right over there." At this, he pointed at said door. "You can leave at any time, it's not like I'll stop you. If you don't believe me now, you're not going to believe me later."

That seemed to stump the girl before she finally looked up and met his face and replied, "No, no I don't think I will. Something tells me you're not kidding about this."

"Why would anyone kid about something this serious?"

Videl opened her mouth to say something to that comment, but for once she was struck speechless. After a couple of moments, she shut her mouth as a bright red blush covered her cheeks. "I, I guess so," she finally managed to murmur. "I'm sorry."

"Apology accepted, I guess."

For a time, neither knew what to do or say. Videl was too busy avoiding Gohan's eyes, looking anywhere except at him. Gohan wasn't too sure what to do so he slowly began looking at the page again, letting that paragraph of Securities fill his mind.

Eventually, Videl broke the silence. "So you think this Securities thing might be the part the senator was talking about?"

Gratefully, the young man picked up on the woman's change in subject. "It's the only thing that stands out to me, though I'm not too sure what it's referring to."

"Well, if it has something to do financially, then our best move would be to visit banks in the city."

"How many banks are there?"

Videl took in a shallow breath before audibly blowing it out in a short burst. "A lot. More than we'd want to actually visit."

Gohan winced at that. He'd rather not have to visit every single bank in the city. Who knows how many days it would actually take him to go to each one individually, seeking out the one specifically mentioned in the bill. And considering whoever it was had already made an attempt on his life, it wasn't a good idea to be wandering around blindly. With these sorts of people, it was very likely there would be a second try.

"Maybe," Videl spoke up, "Maybe they're referring to a specific bank. Do you have a computer in here?"

"Yeah," Gohan replied hopefully. Standing up, he made his way to the dresser and picked up his brother's laptop, bringing it back to the bed and opened it. With a push of the ON button, the computer came to life, loading up the desktop and settings.

Once the laptop was fully operational, Videl reached out and picked up the computer from Gohan's lap and placed it on hers. With a click of a button, the web browser appeared on screen and the young woman began typing in "bank securities" in the search bar. Immediately, a dropdown window appeared beneath search bar, several words listed within the window.

Some of the words were bolded, specifically the words bank and securities. Further down the list, there were unbolded words next to the bolded ones. Looking at the unbolded words, Gohan quickly picked up that they were the names of some of the larger banks in the world.

Videl then added Orange Star City into the search bar, the list changing to reflect her search. "There's two banks in the city with securities in their names," she immediately reported. "Saving & Loans Securities and First Credit Securities."

"You think they might be the places the bill was talking about?" Gohan asked as he read the search list over the woman's shoulder.

"It's a possibility," she acknowledged, "But I wouldn't rest all my hopes on them. If you wanted to keep something secret, you wouldn't make it obvious when you're writing about it. Hell, you shouldn't ever put something you want to keep hidden in writing. And considering these are politicians, they'd be complete morons to put it in a bill."

"It's still worth looking into though." Although it wasn't much, checking these banks out was still a lead, no matter how weak it was. Gohan was gonna have to prepare himself for his pending visits, specifically how to extract the information he needed from the bank employees without raising any suspicion. If they were the parties mentioned in the bill, that meant they were involved in this assassination ring the young man had stumbled into and they wouldn't hesitate to alert their benefactors to his presence.

"Yeah, it is," Videl agreed. "The Savings and Loans Securities isn't too far from campus, so I could meet you there sometime in the morning."

Gohan's musings came to a stop. "You're going to the bank with me?"

The young woman looked up at him and replied "That isn't a problem, is it?"

"No, not at all. It's just…don't you have that assignment from your school to do? I don't want to keep you away from your studies with this."

Videl stared at him blankly for a moment before she tilted her head up and chuckled dryly. "Oh right, I had completely forgotten about that." Setting the laptop down on the bed, the young woman sighed before standing up, turning her body to face Gohan. "I best be getting back to my dorm. It was…nice meeting you."

Gohan gave her a small smile. "It was nice meeting you too. Thank you for helping out."

The same look appeared on Videl's face. "It wasn't any trouble."

For several moments, the two young adults just stood in silence, facing each other as they waited for the other to speak. Eventually, it was Gohan who broke the silence. "Good luck on that project of yours."

"Oh, thanks. Let me know if you need anymore help with this thing you're doing."

Gohan nodded his head as he turned and began walking to the door. Videl followed him a second later. Grabbing the door knob and turning it, the young man opened the door and held it open for her. A larger smile appeared on her face as she recognized the chivalrous act, walking through the doorway with Gohan following behind her. He was her ride to campus after all and it wouldn't be in good taste if he let her walk the entire way back.

However, despite her offer for further assistance, Gohan had no inclination to take her up on it. This was a dangerous game and the sooner he got her out of it, the better off she would be. The young man was not going to risk any more people's lives if he could help it.

At least, that's what he told himself.


	12. Chapter 12

**This Chapter is brought to you by ShadowMajin**

Gohan finished tucking his dress shirt into his slacks, buttoning and zipping them up a moment later. It may have been a bit overkill to dress up in his best clothes once more, but he wanted to make a good impression on the banks he was going to be visiting. The better dressed he was, the more serious the managers would take him, and the greater chance he had at having his questions answered—or so he told himself.

Finishing off his dressing by pulling on his grey shirt jacket, Gohan smoothed out any wrinkles he could see. To be honest, he hadn't really been to many banks, but he had heard from his co-workers that they always dressed up when they went to one to get a loan. First impressions were very important.

Glancing to the digital clock on the nightstand between the beds, the young man made note of the time and took a deep breath. Hopefully everything wouldn't go as bad as the last time he had worn these clothes. It wasn't too much trouble to have a day where someone didn't die and had the media swarm their deaths. And yes, Gohan had been watching the news and seen those news stories over Ox-King and the Carlton Gates. You never would have thought those newscasters had ever seen dead people before with the way they carried on about each story.

Still, they did raise some questions, specifically ones regarding all that destruction that had happened at the hotel. Gohan was still wondering how that had happened... in the very room he had been in. Unfortunately, he had a blackout that made sure he knew nothing about it. Considering how tight-lipped the authorities were being about it too, it was very unlikely anyone would be learning any more about it in the coming days—or at least until someone was accused and caught for the action.

Gohan shook his head. There was no point wallowing in what had happened; he needed to focus on what was going on now. If he wanted to make some headway, the young man needed to make sure everything went well with the banks. After all, they could be involved with the people trying to kill him.

Taking a deep breath and slowly letting it out, Gohan straightened out his posture and began walking to the door. Grabbing the door knob, he turned it and opened the door.

And standing on the other side was Videl, a plastic-covered paper cup of coffee in both hands and a surprised look on her face. Owlishly, Gohan blinked at the sight of her, pretty sure he had the same stunned expression on his face as she did. However, the young woman recovered much faster than he did as her face lit up with a smile.

"Good morning!" she greeted cheerily. With her eyes, she took in the sight of the young man and gave an approving nod. "Good choice in clothes," she commended him. "We need to show the bank people we mean business."

_We?_Gohan immediately took notice of what Videl was wearing and found her to be dressed…well, actually she looked just like she did yesterday. The same white blouse, the black skirt, the only things that were different though, was that she had a black suit jacket on and her hair had been made into a tight bun. Aside from the stray lock of hair that hung loosely at the side of her face, she looked like she was ready to go into a courthouse and lay a beat down of any lawyer she came across—verbally, of course.

"Personally, I think a black would've been a better choice, but the grey works too," she said, gesturing towards his jacket. "However, I don't think we have time for you to change now, especially if we want to go to both banks today—"

"Wait, wait, wait," Gohan interrupted. "What are you doing here? I thought you had school work to do."

Videl rolled her eyes before answering "I have a friend who's doing the same assignment. We decided to divide it into halves between each other. I managed to get some done after you dropped me off last night, so right now it's up to her to get her part done."

"Oh… okay." Gohan wasn't too sure what to make of that. For some reason, he felt that law school was much more demanding on a person's time and energies, yet here this girl was, saying she managed to find some free time after she had pretty much threw a fit about him finding some.

"Now come on! We have a busy day ahead of us." With that, Videl turned away from him and began walking towards his car, the sound of her heels clicking and clacking on the concrete below her. Immediately, Gohan's vision dropped from the back of the girl's head to her butt, watching as it swayed from side to side with every step she took. For a moment, his brain went dead as he admired the sight before a stray thought wandered in and told him he needed to get moving.

Closing his room door behind him, Gohan quickly walked after Videl, trying to catch up with her. He managed to reach her just as she arrived at his car, stopping in front of it as she turned around and held up one of the coffee cups to him. "Here, I got us some coffee. Figured we'd need something to wake us up."

"Thank you," the young man murmured as he took the offered cup and took a sip from it. Feeling the hot drink slide between his lips and to the back of his mouth, he took notice of how bitter it was before swallowing it, his face twisting from the taste.

"Sorry," Videl said apologetically, her head bowing slightly as a light blush appeared on her face. "I wasn't aware of how you drank your coffee so I just got it black."

"That's alright. I do like cream in mine."

The young woman nodded her head as she grinned. "For next time, gotcha."

Gohan looked away from her as he took a sip, moving to the driver's door of his car. Though he wanted to get in his car, he was using the action to hide the guilty feeling he had considering he wanted to exclude her from future endeavors. Though he couldn't just kick her out now considering she was here and came bearing coffee, he had every inclination for them not to have a next time.

But for now he would humor her.

* * *

Tien felt hungry. His stomach had been moaning and groaning for the last hour, yet he had ignored it until now. That typically happened when he was working on a case—especially one he was having trouble making any headway on.

Resting on the desk before the bald man was the forensics report on the hotel bombing. According to the report, the way Tien had described the killing of the four men in the room was accurate, aside from the placement of the shooter. Ballistics had noted that the shooter hadn't been in the doorway like the agent had first theorized, but at the least had been near it. Yet, there was still no progress on what sort of explosive had been used in the room. Without an explosive, no one could track down where it came from and who purchased it—a lead that was going nowhere all too fast.

As if Tien wasn't frustrated enough as is.

That was when the door to his hotel room swung open and Sharpner came storming in, holding a folder above his head. "Tien, you've got to read this," the blond demanded, slapping the file down on the desk in front of the bald man.

Raising an eyebrow, Tien looked up to his partner and asked, "What's got you so jumpy?"

"Just read it!" Sharpner urged.

Staring at him for a moment, Tien decided to humor his partner and opened the file. Immediately, he recognized it as some forensics report over some sort of DNA test. Two sets had been tested against each other and there were several common markers detected. The man's face frowned a moment later when he read what the samples were.

"The hair samples from the motel bombing?" He inquired as he looked back to Sharpner. The younger man looked as if he were about to burst with excitement, nearly bouncing on his feet.

With gusto, Sharpner jabbed a finger at a portion of the report, the sound of his appendage hitting the paper being quite loud. "The lab rats found several common markers in the mitochondrial DNA, which means—"

"That they're related," Tien finished, a noticeable rise in his voice. Standing up, the bald man knocked over his chair as he began shuffling through all the papers and files on the desk. It took awhile, but he eventually found a picture of Paul Kay standing at the front of the Carlton Gates and Son Goten's press badge picture and laid them side by side. Staring at them for several moments, the bald man could see some resemblances between the two. The spiky, black hair, the dark eyes, the shapes of their faces were all alike. "Why didn't I see that before?" he murmured.

"I was stunned too," Sharpner added as he looked over Tien's face. "But we're looking at relatives here. From what the forensics guy told me, they're close relations, like immediately family. I'm thinking brothers or maybe even a parent."

Tien shook his head. "Look at the two of them. They both look to be around the same age, so unless their family ages gracefully, there's no way they're father and son. Has to be brothers."

Sharpner nodded his head. "I checked Son's family history, at least the parts I could find. The search came up with a Son Chichi and a Son Goku, the second one recently passing away."

"Anything else?"

"Not much to be honest. I didn't find anything on there being a brother, be it living or dead. As for the parents, the mother was a stay-at-home wife and the father was some sort of traveling salesman, I guess."

Tien gave Sharpner a look. "You guess?"

"It was for some company called Tactical…something or another. I figured it was some sort of bank."

Tien continued to stare at the blond man before it hit him what the younger man was talking about. "Are you talking about Tactical Securities? That's a group of defense contractors. Nothing financial about it."

"Well, what ever it was, he did a lot of traveling. But here's the strange thing: I never found many receipts from him. This Goku guy was out of town a lot, but I didn't find so much as a credit card being used at a gas station. It's like he disappeared and reappeared when ever he wanted to."

"Perhaps he flew."

"I only found a couple tickets to this place called Ginger Town and one to Blue Star City."

"Train?"

"Nothing there either."

Tien frowned. "This sounds highly unusual." Giving this some thought, he eventually said "Check out Ginger Town. See if there was any reason he should have been there. I'm assuming the trip to Blue Star was for Son Goten."

Sharpner shrugged. "I figured that too, but we'll see."

Mindlessly, Tien moved to a side so he could pick up his chair. Once he had it upright, he sat down on it, pondering upon this latest development. Two brothers, one of which was dead, go on some outing together and get caught up with the assassination of a respected senator, and two bombings. There had to be something else at play that was going on, but what the bald man couldn't say. Even though the living brother didn't have records connecting him to the Son family, the DNA did not lie.

"Hey, you want to go get lunch? I'm starving," Sharpner suddenly asked, interrupting Tien's musings.

"No, no thanks," the bald man waved off the offer. "I'm gonna keep doing some work on this. Nice lead, for the record."

Sharpner frowned at him. "When was the last time you've had any food? Breakfast? Dinner from last night? C'mon, you need a break. There's a diner I know just down the street. We can eat, get energized, and we can hit this case with new eyes."

Tien was about to refuse again when his stomach decided to growl—loudly. Very loudly. A shit-eating grin appeared on the blond's face as he said "And it looks like your stomach agrees with me."

A sour look appeared on the older man's face. "Fine, let's get this over with." Betrayed by one's stomach, how embarrassing.

* * *

Savings and Loans Securities was a bank full of history, or at least that was the impression they wanted to portray. Setting up business in a building that had been privileged with being recognized historically was one way they put out that message. Made of stones and masonry work that dated back at least a couple centuries, along with several stone columns that had bore the brunt of the elements for just as long, the building gave off the impression that it had been made for a great, dignified purpose—who knew that purpose would turn out to be house mortgages? And Videl hadn't been kidding when she had said the bank wasn't that far away from her university campus.

Looking at the weather-beaten steps that led up to the building's doors, Gohan faintly wondered if this was the culprit behind the sudden change in his life. Considering how money seemed to be life's greatest prize in this day and age, naturally a place that dealt with the transfer of such currencies had to be involved.

A sharp, chilly breeze blew by, causing the young man's spiky hair to wave and flow on top of his head as if it had a life of its own. The approaching steps of high-heeled shoes alerted him to put away his musings for the moment.

"You ready?" Videl asked as she came to stand next to him, looking at the side of his face as if it were more interesting than the building in front of them.

"Yeah, let's do this," Gohan answered as he began to climb the steps before them.

However, before he had gone up two steps, the young man felt Videl reach out and grab his arm, making him stop. Turning his head to look at her curiously, he saw the young woman step upwards onto the first step before wrapping her arm around his. "You know, it's considered courteous if a man helps a lady up stairs," she said.

Gohan stared at the girl for a moment before he mentally shrugged and began mounting the staircase again, this time keeping pace with the woman at his side. If she thought this was the best way to go into a bank, who was he to argue otherwise?

It seemed to be a wise decision too as Gohan took notice of other people ascending and descending the stairs. There were a few people that were all by themselves, while same sex groups made the trek, animated in their conversations. However, any time there was a man and woman couple, they had their arms locked together much like he and Videl were.

Once they reached the top, the couple moved between the center-most columns and reached the doors. In contrast to the aged building, it seemed someone thought a more modern look needed to be applied to the doors as they were made of glass. Grabbing the metal handle of the door, Gohan smoothly pulled the door open and allowed Videl to lead them into the building, the door quickly following behind them before it suddenly slowed its swing and slowly came to a stop in its original position.

If the doors to the bank were a strong contrast to building, the inside was even starker. Large tiles covered the floor, allowing for loud clacks of shoe heels as they echoed throughout the room. A long, darkened wood desk stretched the length of the room to the couple's right, desk clerks standing at even intervals behind it. To the left were a series of desks with a couple chairs situated on one side, a bank employee sitting on the other side. Most of the desks were occupied by such employees and customers, speaking of various banking business.

As Gohan's eyes followed a line of small tables that held various bank slips—withdrawals, deposits, and the like—he saw an ascending staircase at the back of the room, the steps hidden by a rising railing.

Videl seemed to be just as content as he was to examine the room until she leaned closer to him and whispered "So now what do we do?"

Gohan couldn't help the frown that appeared on his face. Why was she whispering? However, as he had that thought, he soon realized there was a vast silence that filled the building. Aside from the echoing foot steps of entering and exiting customers, most of the people here were keeping their voices down to the point no one could hear so much as a faint murmur. It was like being in a library, just without the books.

Leaning closer to he could reply to her, Gohan answered quietly "We look for the bank manager. He or she will have the information we need."

Videl nodded her head. "So where is the bank manager?"

That… was a good question. Almost immediately, the young man's eyes focused on the staircase at the back of the room. "I guess we could always ask or we could just go up to the second floor. Someone will help us eventually."

Videl was silent for a moment before she replied "You didn't really think this through, did you?"

With a wince, Gohan responded with "I kinda make things up as I go."

He knew the young woman was rolling her eyes at that. "Fine, let's just go up the stairs. Maybe we'll get lucky or something."

And with that, the couple made their way to the stairs. Once they began climbing them, Gohan could've sworn he heard Videl mutter "I am so getting my exercise for the day."

Once they reached the top, they found a small hallway to their right. Walking on the carpeted floor, they soon reached a small room where a young woman was, sitting behind a desk as she leafed through a stack of paper. Immediately, she looked up at them and stared curiously. "May I help you?"

"Ah, yes," Gohan immediately answered. "We're here to see the bank manager, if he's available."

The secretary just stared at them before recognition hit her. "Ohh! You're here for the interview. The school newspaper, right?"

"Yep, that would be us," the young man replied, smiling wide. At his side, Videl had turned her head to look at him disbelievingly. "I hope we're not late."

"Oh no, you're just on time," the secretary. Standing up, she began making her way to a set of doors to the left of the desk. "I'll let him know you're here. Please, have a seat."

Once the secretary was gone, Videl immediately pounced on Gohan. Verbally, of course. "You've got to be kidding me. How did you know about the newspaper thing?"

Gohan shrugged his shoulders. "I didn't. I just ran with it."

"But what about the real students? Aren't they supposed to be showing up anytime soon?"

The young man paused as he considered that. "I…really hadn't thought about that."

Before Videl could respond to that, the phone on the desk suddenly began ringing. Looking to it, the young woman pulled her arm out from Gohan's and walked behind the desk, looking at the phone. "Caller ID says it's the Orange Star High School," she said aloud. Upon the third ring, she then picked up the phone and answered "Savings and Loans Securities, how may I help you?"

Gohan watched as Videl began to nod her head every few seconds, followed by "Uh huh…okay…oh, that's too bad." A pause. "Well if you would like to reschedule…okay, I don't see any openings for the rest of the week." Another pause. "Yes, please call back next week and we can set up another appointment. Have a nice day."

Once Videl put the phone back down, Gohan asked "Was that their students?"

"Yeah and they wanted to reschedule." Videl walked around the desk and stood next to Gohan, though she didn't reach out to take his arm again. "I guess this 'making it up as you go' thing can work."

The door the secretary entered opened then, with the young woman sticking her head out a second later. "He'll see you now," she said.

Looking to each other, Gohan took a step back and held an arm up. "Shall we?"


	13. Chapter 13

**This Chapter is brought to you by ShadowMajin**

The diner had a quaint feel to it. Dull greens and browns decorated the carpeted floors and the leather coverings of the booths. White metal chairs with green cushions lined neatly positioned tables, each one with brightly-colored flower designed tablecloths. The front of the place was lined with large windows, which came to a stop at the corners of the room. The other walls were windowless, the top half painted white while the bottom half was striped with brown, green, and white.

For some reason, Tien didn't really like the place.

Oh, it wasn't that he was a snob or anything like that. He just never felt comfortable in places like this, especially when the hostess had seated him and Sharpner in the middle of the room at a two-person table, neither of the chairs being seated facing the door. Call him paranoid, but Tien preferred looking at the front door in case someone came barging in with a sawed-off shotgun.

And yes, that was coming from experience.

"So, tell me about yourself," Sharpner said once they had sent in their orders. The young man was leaning forward, his forearms resting on top of the table.

Tien slouched against his chair, a hand stroking his glass of ice tea. He really wasn't in the mood for one of these "getting to know you" conversations. Still, in the interest of being civil, he replied "What do you want to know?"

"Well, anything really. We've been partners for a few months now and I barely know anything about you. How long have you even been with the agency?"

"Twenty years."

Sharpner gave a low whistle. "That's a pretty long time. How many partners?"

Tien sighed. "I lost count a long time ago."

"That many? How did you even manage that?"

Tien tilted his head up, looking towards the ceiling. It was a bit of a joke in certain circles of the NAIE that he went through partners like clean socks. Some of it was admittedly his fault, but others not so much. "First three partners I had declared retirement. Then came a guy that hung around for awhile, about five years. Longest lasting partner I've ever had."

"What happened to him?" Sharpner asked curiously.

"Killed in the line of duty."

"Oh. Sorry."

Continuing, Tien said "The partner after that was also shot, but he lived. He transferred out of the agency soon after. Then I had a few rookies that burned out relatively quickly. They weren't made for the agency, if you catch my drift. A couple others actually quit because of me; they said I was a slave driver among other more colorful words." A smirk appeared on the bald man's lips. "Roshi sided with me and kicked them out. Last I heard, not even local police departments would touch them."

Sharpner raised an eyebrow at that. "Why not?"

"Oh, I image Roshi was embarrassed he let them into the agency. Also, they had the nerve to insult him. The old man blacklisted them so hard, the only places that would even consider them for employment were fast food restaurants."

"Wow." Astonishment laced the young man's voice. "I didn't realize Roshi had the power to do that."

"One doesn't become the head of the NAIE without obtaining some sort of leverage," Tien stated matter-of-factly. "Although he has a lecherous streak, Roshi knows how to get things done. He's not the kind of guy you want gunning for you."

"I'll remember that."

"Do that."

As a silence fell upon them, Tien could feel himself growing uncomfortable. The foreign environment, his current partner, the people that were animatedly chatting with each other around them, it served as a reminder why he didn't immerse himself in places like this.

He had lived a life full of take-out due to always being on the move, be it a case or a new post. In all honest though, he preferred cooking his own meals, but as was already mentioned, that wasn't always viable. The few times he did eat at restaurants or diners, he didn't have to talk or if he did, it was about the current case with his partner; personal talk never even entered the equation.

So it was due to that discomfort that the bald man asked "Why'd you join the agency?"

Sharpner was taking a sip from his own glass of tea when the question was asked. Setting the glass down and swallowing the tea in his mouth, he finally answered "I was recruited right out of the military."

"Military? You don't act like a disciplined soldier," Tien commented.

Sharpner shrugged his shoulders. "I only did all that discipline stuff in the barracks and at base—it was mandatory and all. Once I left, I just went back into old habits."

That sounded reasonable. "So you were recruited. Not many people can catch the eye of the agency."

A smirk appeared on the blond's face. "Some agent watched me running through drills. Everyone else was huffing and puffing and I was barely sweating. The guy was impressed and asked if I had ever thought about joining. Said I could serve the rest of my service while attending school, so I jumped at it."

"What school?"

"Orange Star. Even went to the law school there."

Tien nodded his head. Most agents had a background in law, along with criminal justice studies and the like. Since they were expected to uphold the law, it was expected that they actually knew they were standing up for.

"How about you? What got you in the agency?" Sharpner asked.

"Law Enforcement," Tien replied as he picked up his tea and sipped from it. "Reached Sergeant Detective when a big case landed on my desk. A serial killer, the Green River Gutter, had been causing a ruckus, enough to draw the attention of the NAIE. Since I was already working the case, they put me on the taskforce and after we caught the guy, they offered me a job."

Sharpner had perked up at this. "I remember hearing about the Gutter. I was a little kid, but every newspaper detailed everything he did."

Tien sighed. "There's always been a sick fascination with serial killers. And the media paid well for small tidbits. We had so many leaks about the case, you would have thought we were the federal government. It's a miracle we actually caught the guy."

"So how did you catch him?"

Tien was about to answer when he heard a loud serious of popping sounds. Tilting his head to a side, the bald man tossed away "popping" and inserted "rat-ta-tat-tat-tat" in its place. He knew that sound all too well.

Gunfire.

* * *

The front doors of the car opened as Gohan slid into the driver's seat and Videl into the passenger's. "Well that was a whole lot of nothing," the young woman commented as she smoothed out her skirt and moved to pull on her seatbelt.

"At least it eliminates them," Gohan replied as he turned on the car. Once the engine was running, he put the car into drive and pulled out of their side-parking spot. Once on the road and safely joined with traffic, he asked "So what's the other bank?"

Videl pulled out a notepad that was covered with scribbles and writing and answered "First Credit Securities." Looking up from the pad, she added "That's a few miles away, past all of those hotels downtown."

Gohan nodded his head. Glancing to the digital clock on the dash, he then asked "Would you like to grab some lunch before we go to the other bank or would you like to wait until after."

A smile appeared on the young woman's face. "Lunch sounds great. I'm famished!"

A low rumbling then echoed throughout the car. Instantly, Videl began laughing out loud as Gohan's face turned bright red. "I think my stomach agrees with you," he said bashfully.

"Oh, it most certainly does," the young woman continued to laugh. "The timing for that was just perfect."

A grin appeared on the Son man's face. "Let's see if we can't find a place to fill it up." As they reached the next stoplight, they made a right turn onto an intersecting road, one that turned out to be a one-way street. Thankfully at that moment, a comfortable silence fell on the two as they shifted lanes to the left-most one. For the time being, Gohan was content to driving the car as Videl looked out the car window, looking at the buildings and side-parked cars they passed by. The sidewalks seemed to have very few people walking on it; the only people visible were business people absorbed in their cell phones and private conversations. The traffic around them was fairly light, so they were going at a comfortable pace for—

Suddenly, a popping sound was made, followed by the car jerking to the right. Gripping the wheel tighter, Gohan quickly got the car under control. "Oh great, a flat," he muttered as he began searching the side of the street for an open parking spot.

As fortune would have it, a few cars down was a wide open spot in front of a storefront, almost shining as if to beckon them to it. Once they reached it, Gohan pulled into the parking place and put the car in drive. Turning the engine off, he sheepishly looked to Videl and said "Sorry about this. This shouldn't take too long."

Videl shrugged. "Not your fault. Things happen."

"Right." Why had he bothered apologizing? Like Videl had said, it was out of his hands. He was acting silly for no apparent reason. Turning in his seat, Gohan undid his seatbelt and opened the car door. Setting one foot outside of the car, the young man began climbing out of the vehicle when his foot slid forward due to the angle he had been placing his weight on it. This caused Gohan to lunge forward slightly off balance, a surprised look on his face as he tried to restore his footing.

A sudden _thunk!_ sounded off behind Gohan, followed by something whizzing by his head and the sudden appearance of sparks flying around him. Instinctively, the young man dove to the ground, landing on it roughly.

_Ugh, that didn't feel good._ Pushing himself onto his arms, Gohan looked around himself, trying to figure out what had flown by him.

"Gohan? You okay?" he heard Videl call to him from the car.

Starting to feel silly, he was about to answer "Nothing," when he noticed something rolling on the ground a few feet from him. Focusing on it, it looked like a crushed bit of metal the size of a marble. It was slowly moving towards him, giving the young man a better look at it before it came to a stop. Squinting his eyes, something about it seemed familiar, like it had been longer before something crushed it.

Wait…longer? Metal? Was…_had_ that a bullet? Eyes widening, Gohan jerked himself around, barely noting Videl learning towards him in her seat, looking at him curiously. Instead, his eyes were focused on the ceiling of his car. That sound he had heard, that had been the bullet hitting it on its path to him. Due to his sudden slip, who ever had fired it had aimed it too close to the car's roof, causing it to skim and alter the bullet's trajectory and instead hit the nearby building at an angle to crush it rather than imbed it in the wall.

"Videl, get down!" Gohan shouted. The young woman seemed to be taken back by the sudden order, but his tone must've sparked something within her head as she immediately ducked down. Half a second later, the window of the car shattered, sending shards of glass everywhere. Instinctively, Gohan covered his face with his arms to prevent any of the pieces from hitting him in sensitive places.

Faintly hearing panicked screams from either side of him further down the street, Gohan put his attention on other matters. Once he was sure he wasn't in danger of getting glass in his eyes, Gohan turned his head to look at the building, seeing two small holes in the mortar. _Oh Lord, not now. Not now!_

Hearing sounds from behind him, Gohan turned back and saw Videl crawling out of the driver's door, keeping herself loud as she dropped to the ground and awkwardly rolled onto her back as she maneuvered her legs out of the car. Moving, Gohan crawled up to the dark-haired woman and asked "Are you okay? You're not hurt, are you?"

Videl's head shot up as her frantic blue eyes zeroed on him. "What's going on, Gohan?" she demanded. "Why is someone shooting at us?"

Instead of answering her, the Son man dragged himself to the car and twisted his body around so he could lean his back against of it, careful to keep himself lower than the windows. With his closest hand, he put it on Videl's shoulder to keep her on the ground.

This was bad—no, horrible! He had known the people that had sent that woman to kill him would send someone else sooner or later, but they could not have picked a worse time to attack. Kami, they had seen Videl! They would think she was part of this now and be after her too!

A small hand came up and grabbed Gohan's shirt then, causing him to look down an increasingly irate girl. "Gohan, you better tell me what's going on right now or—"

"_Not now!_" he snapped at her, causing her to instantly shut her mouth as she stared at him with wide eyes. Pressing his face against the side of the car, Gohan tried to look between the car frame and door and over the hood to see oncoming traffic. A moment later, he reprimanded himself. _Idiot! This is a _one_-way street!_ Turning to look the other way, Gohan adjusted his view to look over the trunk of the car. Fortune decided to smile at him that moment as the top of a double-decker bus came into view and approaching them.

Turning his head forward, immediately Gohan caught sight of an alleyway slightly off to the right. In the alley was a large, green dumpster. _Perfect_. "Okay Videl, when I tell you to run, head for the dumpster," at this he pointed to the metal box, "as quickly as you can and get on the other side of it."

"And what about you?" she asked worriedly.

"I'll be right behind you." Looking back to the bus, he could see it growing larger and larger as it drew closer. "Get ready now."

Next to him, Videl edged her way up against the car, her back against it like Gohan. Bending her legs, she moved them to one side of her and slipped off her high heels, clutching them both by their backs in one hand. As the bus edged closer and closer to them, the Son man could feel his heart pounding harder and harder in his chest. _3…2…1…_

"Run!" he shouted as the bus moved along side of their car. Instantly, the two were on their feet and running into the alley, reaching the far end of the dumpster and nearly diving behind it as the bus disappeared from view.

As Gohan and Videl pressed their backs against the metal container, trying to catch their breaths, the young man saw a door barely a step away from them. _Oh, thank you Kami._ Videl seemed to see the door at the same moment as he had and immediately stepped to it, grabbing the doorknob, turning it, and pushing it open. Quickly, they dashed inside and slammed the door shut behind them.

Once the door was shut, Gohan locked the door and then looked around to see where they were. They were in a place with tile floor, not to mention brightly lit. The walls were a bright white and led to a left turn a few paces away. Seeing no reason to stay where they were, Gohan began walking forward, Videl keeping up with him as they turned the corner.

What they found was a large kitchen and several busy men and women slaving over hot stoves as they cooked food. Between the couple and the cooks was a high counter where plates of food were sitting. People dressed as waiters and waitresses were seemingly appeared from nowhere and scoop up a few of the plates before disappearing out of sight. Cautiously, the two dark-haired youth walked towards the counter, the sounds of Gohan's dress shoes clicking on the floor mixing with the pattering of Videl's pantyhose-covered feet, the two of them keeping their eyes open for an exit.

It was as they reached the counter that a very large, very tubby man dressed as a chef appeared to their right and looking very similar to an enraged cow. "What are you two doing in here?" he bellowed, causing the activity in the room to slowly down, if not come to a flat out stop. "You shouldn't be in here! Get out of my kitchen, both of you!"

Since Videl was standing closer to the man, she tried to calm him down, though unsuccessfully. "I'm sorry, Sir; we didn't mean to—"

"I'll have you arrested for trespassing! Get out now!"

"Okay, okay, we're leaving. Please, just calm down."

At this point, Gohan tuned out the two as he turned to his right to look behind them. For a moment, the young man swore that time seemed to slow down as everything around him fell silent. Only the sound of his own breathing reached his ears and it seemed to take eons for each one to occur. On the floor towards the corner he and Videl had turned, the head of a shadow began to emerge, stretching towards the wall in front of it.

Time then sped up, allowing Gohan to grab Videl by the arm as he swung his head to his left and bolted. Videl lost her balance as she stumbled and slipped behind him, only just getting regaining her footing as the roar of hell suddenly erupted behind them.

As they raced across the kitchen, a machine gun rang out as a torrent of bullets flew behind them. Plates shattered as the food on them exploded up into the air as the counter was pelted with lead. Pots and pans that hung from the wall behind it were knocked to the floor as the screams of the cooks echoed throughout the room, the men and women falling to the floor either out of a sense of preservation or injury.

Running as their lives depended on it, Gohan saw a set of double doors in front of them. Just as the sounds of the machine gun behind them died down, he lowered his shoulder and rammed into the door, swinging them wide open from his blow.

That was when the two found themselves in a room full of people sitting at tables, all of them looking to them. A sinking feeling appeared in Gohan's stomach as the thought of these people getting caught up in the gunfire made itself known in his head.

This was going to be a blood bath.

* * *

As Tien turned to a set of double doors that the waiting staff had been using to enter the kitchen, the door were violently thrown open as a pair of dark-haired adults came charging into the room.

Immediately, the bald man was on his feet, moving towards the two as they flew by tables and booths. Seeing an intercept point by a booth, Tien stood by it, looking towards the fleeing couple. The spot proved to be advantageous as it gave him a good view of the now-swinging doors.

As they swung to and fro, Tien saw a tall man dressed completely in black from head to toe. Other than his height, there were no other discernable features. However, that sub-machine guns in his hands definitely captured the bald man's attention.

Just as the couple reached him, Tien shot his hands out, one hand grabbing the man by his closest shoulder and the other hand doing the same to the woman. Twisting his body to a side as he leaned back, the agent pulled the two down and behind the booth just as a burst of gunfire rang out and bullets shattered the double doors and flew into the room.

Screams instantly erupted from the customers of the diner, followed by total pandemonium as the people rushed their way towards the exit.

Landing with a grunt, followed by the couple he saved, Tien looked up at the two. The woman was short, her hair gathered into a bun that was slowly falling apart. Dressed sharply, the bald man couldn't help but note that she was carrying her shoes in her hands, leaving her feet bare aside from the sheen of her pantyhose. Considering she was running away from a machine gun-carrying maniac, it'd make sense that she'd take them off.

However, when he looked to the man, Tien could feel his blood freeze. He knew that face, that spiky hairstyle, even the suit. _Paul Kay!_ his mind roared as he stared the young man down.

That was when Sharpner leapt over the three of them, causing Tien to tear his gaze from Kay and watch as his partner landed right in the aisle in front of the kitchen doors. With his hand gun, the blond fired several rounds at their assailant before taking cover behind a set of chairs and table that was placed against the wall. Another round of automatic gunfire came back in response.

Sensing movement, Tien jerked his head back to the dark-haired couple as they got back on their feet and raced towards and out the exit of the building. "No!" the bald man shouted before he heard Sharpner fire his gun again. As much as he wanted to go after Paul Kay and the woman, he knew that protecting the people in the diner came first. Getting to his feet, he pulled out his own handgun and began firing into the kitchen, Sharpner joining him a moment later as they emptied their guns.

Ducking behind their respective covers, they simultaneous pulled out their empty ammo clips and inserted full ones. By the time their reloading was complete, Tien realized that they hadn't heard any return fire. Looking to Sharpner, the blond looking over to him at the same time, the bald man signaled that they were going in.

With a nod, Sharpner, moved from behind his cover and fired a couple more shots into the kitchen. Rising up from behind the booth, Tien climbed over it and rushed to the wall next to the doors. Holding his gun up at eye level, he leaned towards the wall as he tried to see into the kitchen, seeing no sign of the assailant. A moment later and Sharpner was behind him, ready to go.

Taking a deep breath, Tien steeled his nerves and quickly took a few steps into the doorway, getting a better look at the kitchen corner that had been hidden from his sight. Seeing nothing, he spun to his right, finding the exact same sight.

Slowly, Tien crept into the kitchen, ignoring the crunches of lettuce and bread beneath his feet. To his left was a long counter that had definitely seen better days; however, there was a gap he was a couple steps away from that would allow him to the other side. As he heard Sharpner creeping up behind him, Tien slipped through the gap and checked the area between the counter and the stoves.

Lying on the floor were limp bodies of the cooks, puddles of blood spreading out over the floor. Training his eyes up, the bald agent slowly worked his way to the other side of the room, constantly searching for the man in black. Once he was sure that no one was in his part of the kitchen, he looked to Sharpner, who gave him the all-clear.

Grimacing, Tien didn't holster his gun as he reached the far end of the room. The counter didn't reach the wall, providing a gap that the man used to move out from the cooking area. Taking a good look of the kitchen, Tien noticed how much of a mess it was, from the pieces of broken dinning ware, ruined food, and splattered blood.

Walking back towards his partner, Tien reached an intersection that led towards the dinning room and a hallway to his left. Right at the intersection, bullet casings laid on the floor. Kneeling down, the agent picked up one of the casing and examined it.

Almost on impulse, he then looked down the hallway to his left. The hall came to an abrupt stop and turned right, but Tien could clearly see more of the bullet casings at the hallway's end. Gesturing to Sharpner to watch his back, the bald man made his way down the short corridor, pressing himself up against the wall as he reached the turn and peaked around the corner.

Seeing a shut door with bits and pieces of splintered wood lying on the floor, Tien quickly closed the distance to it and waited until he saw Sharpner arrive at his previous spot. Looking at the wood fragments, the bald man checked out the door frame and noticed it looked busted, as if someone had kicked the door in. Slowly, he reached out and grasped the handle, mentally counting to three in his head before swinging the door in.

Seeing an alleyway through the doorway, Tien slowly made his way out, constantly looking around in case the assailant was still around. It was only a matter of moments before it became painfully obvious that the attacker was long gone. Holstering his sidearm, the agent looked back to the doorway, seeing his partner also putting his gun away.

My, what a day this was becoming.


	14. Chapter 14

**This chapter is brought to you by ShadowMajin**

The NAIE had swarmed the dinner within minutes of the shootout. Men in suits had quickly formed a two block parameter and searched everything within it. A forensics team had been hurried into the diner and searched the building from the sitting room to the kitchen to the storage room.

All of this activity was going on as Tien and Sharpner sat in a booth across from Roshi. The old man had arrived with the entire force once he had been informed of the incident and he wanted a full report.

"We were just waiting for our lunch to appear when we heard gunfire," Tien said as he relaxed against the leather cushions. To his left and sitting between him and the exit was Sharpner, who held himself as straight as an arrow. Roshi was currently leaning on the table across from them, looking intently at the two. "When we got up, a man and woman came running out of the kitchen and were being chased by a man in black. He was the one with the automatic weapon."

Roshi tilted his head towards Sharpner. "You saw this too?"

The blond immediately responded "Yes. Agent Shinhan managed to pull the couple out of harms way and I returned fire. Shinhan joined in a moment later and the assailant escaped out the backdoor in the kitchen."

"And you didn't even attempt to question them why they were fleeing?"

Tien took that question. "We didn't get the chance. The safety of the civilians was our top priority. That allowed the couple to escape out the front."

Roshi nodded his head in affirmation. "Agreed."

Now this part was important. Once things had settled down, Tien had been wondering about the cause for this shootout. A couple different theories were bouncing around his head, but while they may have held some merit, there was always something that discredited them. Still, he did have to report his findings. "I was able to identify the fleeing male. It was Paul Kay, Sir."

Instantly, Roshi and Sharpner's head snapped over to him, the former boring his sunglass-covered eyes into him as the latter stared in disbelief. "You're positive about that?" the old man demanded to know.

"One hundred percent. I've been staring at his face for the last week and a half so I know it was him."

Roshi leaned back in his seat as he considered this information. "So our chief suspect involved in Ox-King's assassination was attacked in broad daylight. And with a friend no less."

"Or a captive," Tien spoke. "The woman had a pair of high heeled shoes in her hands. I can't confirm it now, but it is possible she was at the Carlton Gates. We did find shoe prints belonging to a woman there."

"A reasonable thought, though we shouldn't assume anything." Roshi leaned forward onto the table again. "So why were the two of them being pursued?"

"I have a couple of ideas, but nothing definitive."

"Humor me, Shinhan."

Tien took in a deep breath before releasing it. "I'm thinking that Kay knows something, something that's worth taking his life. We can place him at the Ox-King assassination, which also means the assassin that killed the senator could have also caught sight of him there. If that's the case, then the assassin's been trying to kill Kay every chance they've gotten."

Sharpner seemed to have followed Tien's line of thinking. "Which means that car bombing that killed Son Goten was also meant for him, but he lucked out by not getting into the car." Looking to Roshi, he continued "We know Son and Kay were involved with each other."

"And would give a motive to Son's murder," the old man finished. "How do you explain the Carlton Gates then?"

"No idea why he went there," Tien answered, "But it would seem that the assassin caught up with Kay there, along with a few buddies. They could have tried to kill Kay, but something went wrong."

Roshi mused about that before asking "And what about the woman?"

"If she is indeed the woman that we believe was in that hotel room, then she was either part of the assassin group or she might have been taken hostage. An innocent bystander that got caught up in it. Though considering she was keeping pretty close to Kay, I highly doubt the first scenario."

A small silence enveloped the three then. Sharpner ended up being the one to end it. "Or maybe she's just a friend he ran into after the hotel?"

Tien nodded his head. "A possibility, sure."

"It seems you boys have made some headway with your cases," Roshi finally commented after a moment. "Though I don't think I like the idea of some conspiracy being involved. These four incidents are interconnected and it seems the only people with any answers are Paul Kay and the assassin after him. Find them, Gentlemen."

Suddenly, a man in a suit barreled into the diner. Immediately spotting Roshi, the man hurried over to the booth and said breathlessly "We found something, Sir."

The three men looked to agent expectantly. "What is it?" the old man asked.

"We found a car with a shattered window and a couple bullets lodged in a nearby wall," the man informed them.

Immediately, Roshi, Sharpner, and Tien were out of the booth, stalking towards the exit with the agent trailing behind them. "Where is it?" Roshi demanded as they stormed out of the building and into the street.

"It's behind the building, at the end of the alley."

Immediately, the men took a left and made their way to the alleyway. Entering it, they marched to the end and found a crowd of forensic techs standing around the car. From what they could see, the driver's door was wide open with pieces of glasses lying all over the car seats and sidewalk.

"Back away!" Tien shouted as the four men approached the car, the lab rats immediately stepping away. As Roshi and the agent came to a stop, Tien and Sharpner circled the vehicle, walking in opposite directions so they could meet on the other side. Making his way around the front, Tien searched for any other signs of damage to the car, seeing none. However, once he reached the front passenger door, he saw the shattered window.

Yet, that didn't capture the agent's attention. What did was the flat front tire. Kneeling down, he looked at the tire, noting the large hole in the side of it.

"Sir?" a voice spoke up. Turning his head, Tien saw a forensic tech standing behind him, looking at him expectantly.

"Yes?"

"I was examining the tire when you arrived."

"So what can you tell me about it?"

"Well, it's not your normal flat tire," the man said simply. "If it had been a nail or screw, the hole would have been on the thread, or at least closer to it. As you can see, the hole," here the man pointed to it with a pen, "Is right in the middle of the side. If I had to say anything about it—"

"Someone shot out the tire," Tien summed up, earning a nod in response. Standing up, the bald man stared at the rubber wheel before speaking out loud "So the car turns onto this street. Our assailant shoots out the tire, causing Kay and his companion to pull over. He then takes a couple shots at them through the window."

"Actually," another technician spoke up, "The first shot was fired above the car." The tech then pointed to the roof of the car, specifically at a dent. "Our ballistics expert thinks the bullet ricochet off the roof and missed the driver. The window was shot next."

Staring at the dent, Tien's eyes looked up and beyond it, seeing another lab rat wearing gloves, holding up a small plastic bag as he dropped a small metal ball into it. There were also two holes in the wall of the building behind the man.

Looking to Sharpner, who was now standing next to him, the bald man asked "Did you find anything?"

"Nope."

"Search the entire car," Tien then ordered. "Hair samples, fingerprints, everything. I want to know every single thing that's happened in this car, including if someone got lucky in the backseat—understand?"

"Sir!" several of the techs answered before they got to work on the car. Meanwhile, Tien took a few steps away, standing in the middle of the street that had been cordoned for their investigation. Looking at the asphalt, something began troubling him.

"You thinking about something?" Sharpner asked.

"How did the assailant know they were coming down this street?" the bald man replied out loud. "Out of all the streets, he chose this one to wait for them—and what do you know, they ended up driving on it. How could he have even predicted that?"

Sharpner paused at that thought, becoming troubled by it as well. "Couldn't he have tailed them here and shot out the tire?"

"Someone would've seen him do that though," Tien countered. "Okay, say he did follow them here, rolled down his window, and blew out their tire—how then was he able to do it without causing a panic? Look at the street; there's no evidence of cars swerving, reacting to the sudden shots. Even if he had a silencer on, someone would have seen him sticking the gun out of his window."

"So you think he was waiting somewhere out of sight, they came along, and he blew out the tire?" Sharpner summed up. "And they pulled over into the parking spot he wanted them to park in and tried to finish the job?"

"A bit far-fetched," the bald man admitted, "But it's the only logical one I can think of."

The blond man snorted. "The assailant would have had to know exactly where they were going beforehand just to do that."

Tien slowly nodded his head. "Yeah…he would have…"

* * *

"What the hell was that?" Videl exclaimed once Gohan had shut the door to his motel room.

After they had escaped that diner, they had jumped onto the first bus they could find. The more distance they put between their attack and them, the better. Once they had gotten off the bus though, they had needed to hail a taxi to get them back to the motel since they had left Gohan's car behind. The entire time, they hadn't spoken a word outside of Gohan telling the taxi driver to take them to the motel.

Carless, frazzled, and now a girl on the verge of exploding with hysteria, Gohan knew today was just not his day.

"Remember when I said there were dangerous people involved?" Gohan asked. "Well, that was them."

Videl gave him an "are you kidding" look before she shouted "They just tried to kill us! In broad daylight! He even shot at those people in the diner! If it hadn't been for the guy in the suit, we'd be dead!"

She was entirely right about that. It had been a pure stroke of luck they had managed to get out of that situation in one piece—somewhere, Gohan knew he was using up his life's worth of luck in the last few days.

"And it's not like they were just going after you," Videl added, "They were also shooting at me! Me! Who hadn't even been involved in this until yesterday!"

Gohan ran a hand through his hair, taking in a deep breath. "I know this is bad, but we need to calm down and think—"

"Calm?" the young woman nearly screeched. "_Calm?_ How can I be _calm_ if I know there's someone out there trying to kill me? How? You may be used to having people trying to kill you, but I'm not!" Then for whatever reason, she glanced to the stuff he had placed on one of the beds. "Do you have some sort of anti-assassin stuff or something in all this junk? Please, enlighten me."

There was no way he was going to get through to this girl, not with how terrified she was. "Videl…" Gohan started before he stopped. "I'm going to use the john. You just hang out around here and when I'm done, we'll talk about this and figure out what we'll do next."

Videl's mouth opened, yet no sounds came out; it seemed the young man's statement had caught her off guard and left her speechless. Taking the opportunity that presented, Gohan slipped into the bathroom and shut the door behind him. Leaning back against the door, he let out a large sigh.

He needed to come up with a plan. Now that Videl was being targeted, there was no way she could leave, not if she wanted to make it to the next school semester. That assassin had clearly seen her and would no doubt be able to recognize her if he saw her again. In the interest of keeping her safe, Gohan had to make sure she didn't leave this motel room—at least without him with her.

Hearing faint grumbling from beyond the wooden door, the young man assumed Videl was not happy with his sudden postponement of their conversation. Looking to the porcelain toilet, Gohan felt he might as well do what he said he was going to do.

Moments later with the sound of flushing and a zipper being zipped, Gohan moved to the sink and turned on the water. As cold water poured out of faucet, the young man washing his hands in it, he began considering how he was going to tell Videl what was in her best interest. Considering how emotional she was, he couldn't just flat out tell her that she was staying here tonight and that would be it. He had to appeal to her logically, make her use that lawyer brain that she was developing at school, show her…

_Wait, tell her she was staying here? In the same room? With me?_ A lump grew in Gohan's throat as he realized the implication. Oh dear Kami, how was he going to handle this? It was one thing to have a woman talking with him willingly; it was another to have her in pajamas mere feet away from him. Did she even wear pajamas?

The young man slapped his face with one of his wet hands. Now was not the time to be fretting about…that. He could freak out about that when Videl agreed with him. _Oy, this is not going to end well…_

Turning off the water, Gohan grabbed a towel off the towel rack and dried his hands. Dropping the towel on the counter, he placed his hands on the ceramic surface and leaned on it, looking himself in the mirror. Staring into his weary eyes, the young man knew he was stalling. It was time to get this talk over with.

Opening the bathroom door, the Son man walked into the main room. "Videl, I think we need…to…" he trailed off.

Videl was standing at the foot of the closest bed, one of the black cases lying in front of her opened. And if his eyes were deceiving him, that was the case that held the disassembled sniper rifle.

_Oh…crap…_

The young woman seemed completely enraptured with the weapon. It was almost as if she hadn't even heard him speak to her. However, she soon began slowly turning her head towards him, looking at him with unreadable eyes.

A second later and Videl's gaze sharpened. Before Gohan knew it, the girl had snatched the body of the gun out of the case and had it pointed right at him, Videl backing away from him until her back touched the wall. "Stay where you are," she demanded as she looked right at him, the gun steadily held in her hands. "Don't come any closer."

Instinctively, Gohan raised his hands up to show he meant no harm. "I'm not going to hurt you," he said.

"Damn right you're not going to hurt me. I'm the one with the gun!"

_Well, she does have a point there._ As Gohan looked at the cornered woman, he couldn't help but let his eyes drift to the gun. It only took a moment, but he soon realized that an ammo clip hadn't been inserted into the gun. And since he had made sure the weapon had been unloaded when he first found it, that meant Videl was pointing a useless gun at him. Well, as long as it made her feel more comfortable, who was he to tell her otherwise?

"I think…we need to talk," Gohan said cautiously then.

"You bet we do, like why the hell do you have a freaking rifle with you?"

Gohan stayed quiet as he looked to the open case. When he looked back to her, he then said "You want the whole truth?"

"As opposed to half of it?" Videl shot back sarcastically. "Yeah, I would." She narrowed her eyes then. "But how will I know you're not lying?"

"Well, you do have a gun pointed at me," he pointed out. "If you felt like I was lying, you could just shoot me in the foot or something."

Videl paused at that. "Okay, tell me."

With one of his hands, Gohan pointed to the bed. "You mind if I sit down? This is kind of a long story."

"Don't do anything funny," she warned him, adjusting her grip on the gun.

Step by slow step, Gohan made his way to the closest bed. Sitting on it right next to the open case, he glanced at it before he shut it closed. Latching the buckles back on, he then slid the case back to the rest of the luggage on the bed and then looked back to Videl.

"In all honesty," he began, "I'm just a guy who works in a cubicle for a living." Upon hearing Videl snort—and ignoring her derision—he continued "Up until a couple weeks ago, I was living a dull life, doing dull things, and never thought I'd be doing anything else. And then my father suddenly died."

"Tragic. What does that have to do with anything?"

Gohan stared right at Videl, not letting her uncaring words affect him. "My father left me the house he raised me in and when I went to clean it out, I found a lock box with poison, money, and several different passports in it. I had no idea my father had ever had this stuff or why, so I set off to find out. And ever since I did, all kinds of fucked up stuff has happened to me."

Videl's features seemed to soften at that, the gun lowering somewhat. Pressing on, the Son man continued "While I was searching out for answers, I ended up running into a brother I never knew I had. He was doing the exact same thing I was doing, or so I thought, and we decided to help each other out."

"What was he doing really?"

Gohan nodded his head towards the gun in the woman's hands. "That gun belonged to him. At first he claimed to be some journalist on a job, but when I found that…" He paused to sigh. "I realized that he wasn't all that he claimed to be. Just like Dad. Goten was the reason why I went to talk to Ox-King. Ox-King told me about the Malone-Engvall bill and then had half his head blown off."

By now, Videl had completely dropped her arms, the weapon hanging from her hands. She seemed taken back by that revelation before she recovered her wit. "But…I thought you said you saw him before the senator was killed."

Gohan winced. "Okay, I kinda lied about that part. At the time I didn't want you getting involved, so I figured the less facts you knew, the better off you would be. There's no reason to keep that away from you now."

For a moment, the young woman seemed to be calculating in her mind, trying to get her head around this. "And then what?"

"And then? Then I've had people trying to kill me. So far they only killed Goten, but you saw the latest attempt. They're done trying to corner me and make it look like an accident." Gohan then looked directly into Videl's eyes. "And now they probably think you and I are in cahoots together."

"But I just met you!" the woman protested.

"They saw you with me," Gohan countered. "They'd figure I was with you for a reason and even if we weren't, they're not gonna take the risk that you're not involved."

Letting go of the gun with one of her hands, she raised it to her head and brushed aside some stray locks of hair. "So now I'm stuck with you," she surmised, not looking the least bit happy."

The young man tried his best to look apologetic, but considering the situation, he doubted it would've helped. "Sorry."

Raising the weapon body up, she glanced at it before tossing it onto the other bed. Slowly, the young woman began sliding down against the wall until she was sitting on the floor, her legs spread out in front of her. "So what do we do now? We can't wait here forever. They'll find us eventually."

"It would be best if we change motels," Gohan agreed as he nodded his head. "But we still have one more bank to check out. We can start there."

Videl nodded her agreement as she continued to stare in front of her. "How did that guy even find us? It was like he was waiting for us."

Gohan's eyes glazed over as he lost himself in thought, considered Videl's words. She was right, that assassin had been waiting for them at that exact spot. He probably had even orchestrated the flat tire too. Yet, how did he know they would be going down that exact street? The odds of that happening by coincidence were astronomical, if not downright impossible. So he had to know, whether he predicted it or he somehow…somehow what? Funneled traffic to their location so that they would go to that street to get out of it? Traffic had been light, so they definitely hadn't been forced to that location.

Yet, he must have been lying in wait for them from directly across the street from the parking spot they had stopped in. He had clipped the car roof and hit the window dead on. Gohan was willing to give the guy the credit to getting them into that particular spot, but not that street. Regardless, who ever he was, he was good.

The image of the blonde woman from the hotel flashed before the young man's eyes. Was she the real assassin and not some mystery man? It was entirely possible since he had blacked out. A killer holding a grudge over a failed assignment might be desperate enough to attack in broad daylight. Absently, Gohan shook his head. It couldn't be that simple.

"You know, I'm hungry," Videl suddenly spoke up, causing Gohan to refocus as he looked to her. "Do you know any good places to eat?"

"Is take-out alright?" Gohan asked. "I don't think it would be a good idea if we went to a restaurant right now."

Videl shrugged her shoulders. "I guess. You're probably right about leaving the room for now. We should probably get someone to deliver."

Nodding, Gohan stood up from the bed he sat on and moved to the dresser that stood between the two beds. Opening the drawer, he pulled out a small, thick book titled Yellow Pages. "I'll take a look in here for places that deliver," he told her.

The woman nodded her head before a thought hit her. "I need to call my roommate, tell her I won't be back for a few days."

Upon seeing Gohan glance at her worriedly, she added "I won't tell her about our situation. I'll…I'll tell her I was called out of town by my dad or something." Pushing herself off the floor, she began making her way to the door.

Frowning, Gohan asked "Where are you going?"

Videl slowed her pace as she looked at him over her shoulder. "My car. I left my phone in it instead of taking it with us, fortunately."

"Alright," he said before looking down at the book in his head. As he opened it and began searching through the pages, he heard the room door open and shut a moment later. Hopefully he could find something other than oriental food in here; he was kinda sick of it at the moment.


	15. Chapter 15

**This chapter is brought to you by ShadowMajin**_  
_

_"For twenty years, we've protected business and the wealthy from harm. Isn't it about time you had someone protect you?"_

Gohan resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Standing in a small lobby belonging to a motel—a new one, not the old one—a small TV sat atop the front desk, images of bodyguards or something of the like running around and offering safety flashing on the screen. For a moment, the young man considered the situation he was in and wondered if they could help. That line of thinking was quickly tossed aside with a snort. Yeah, as if a bodyguard could protect from an assassin.

Standing right in front of the front desk, Videl looked towards the clerk as she spoke. "Hello, we'd like a room, please."

The clerk—a middle-aged man who clearly believed that grunge music was still popular if his long, stringy hair and rumpled clothes were any indication—looked at them as he rolled his eyes. "Of course you do, why else would you be here?"

If Videl was put off by that response, she didn't show it. "How much will it cost?"

"It's four thousand zenni a night per room," the man answered with a drawl. "Eight for two." His eyes then focused on Videl, taking in some of her more attractive attributes. "But I can drop that price if you're willing to…negotiate."

Almost immediately, Videl reached out and grabbed Gohan by the arm, dragging him up next to her as she tightened her hold on him. "What do you think, Honey? Think we can negotiate with this guy?"

Caught off guard, the young man stared at the clerk, who seemed put off. "Well, I guess we could…"

"Never mind," the clerk spoke, pulling out a clipboard and placing it in front of them. "Fill this out and be ready to pay up front."

"What ever you say," Videl replied as she immediately took the pen and began filling out the form. Feeling that his uses were minimal, Gohan returned his attention back to the TV.

_"If you're in need of our services just call us on the number listed below. We at Tactical Se—"_

Suddenly, the image on the screen cut to a new one, ending the commercial short. From what Gohan could tell, it was some sort of movie. Guess the allotment for commercial time had ran out. Oh well, a movie was better than a commercial, right?

Shifting his weight, Gohan continued to watch the show. From what he could tell, some guy was being tortured or something by a giant fan. The fan blades were moving slowly, just enough to change the flow of light into the room. Gohan wasn't exactly sure of what was happening to the guy, but he did know that it was making him feel a bit queasy.

_"Just watch…"_

Gohan's eyes blinked. That voice, it hadn't come from the TV. He was sure of that cause the only sounds that were coming from the device were grunts and groans. Plus, there was a slight pounding in his head. Well wasn't that great? The movie was starting to give him a headache.

_His eyes opened to a darkened room, a few beams of light emerging from behind him. Hanging in front of his face was a piece of string, a round, shiny ball hanging from it. Or was it some sort of coin? And…for some reason…he felt dizzy…_

Gohan closed his eyes as he pressed his hand against his forehead, inadvertently covering his eyelids. That pounding in his head was getting worse.

_"Keep your eye…on the ball…"_

_It must've been his eyes playing tricks with him, but he could've sworn the ball was spinning—slowly, faintly even._

Something nudged his shoulder, startling the young man. "Gohan?" he heard the soft voice of Videl say. "Are you okay?"

Shaking his head a bit as he dropped his hand from his face, Gohan answered before groaning slightly "Yeah, I'm okay. I just have this headache."

"You sure, Dude?" the clerk asked. "You're sweating something awful."

"Yeah, yeah, I just need to get some air, that's all." Stepping away, Gohan made his way out of the lobby and outside. A breeze blew by, gently caressing his heated skin. Lifting a hand up, he dragged it over his forehead and brought it down so he could look at it. It looked like that clerk was right, his palm was covered with sweat.

"You know, you really don't look too good," Videl suddenly said from behind him. Turning around, he saw the dark-haired woman standing by the door, looking at him worriedly.

"Did he give us a room?" he asked.

"Yeah, 104." Without another word, the two began walking to their room, finding it fairly close by. Placing the key into the lock, Videl turned the key and opened the door. Turning slightly, she grabbed Gohan's arm again and pulled him into the room, leading him to a bed. As the young man plopped his hindquarters at the end of the mattress, Videl leaned in front of him as she stared at his face.

"Okay, tell me what's wrong," she said with authority. "One moment you're find, the next you look like you just finished a marathon. What's going on?"

"It's nothing," Gohan brushed off. "Just a headache, that's all."

A disapproving look appeared on Videl's face. Leaning back, she crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Okay, cut the tough guy act. We're both in a bit of trouble and we need to be absolutely honest with each other. Otherwise, something bad will happen and neither of us will like it. Now tell me exactly what's wrong."

_Well, when you're right, you're right._ "I was staring at the television," he started, "and just out of the blue, I had this pounding headache pop up. And there was this…I don't know, some voice."

Videl raised an eyebrow at that. "A voice?"

Gohan shrugged his shoulders. "That's the best I can describe it. It was telling me to do something, but I really don't remember what. It…it felt familiar."

Suddenly, a bout of dizziness hit the young man, causing him to groan as he leaned back, falling onto the bed mattress. Immediately, Videl was at his side, placing a cool hand on his forehead. _Oh…that feels good._

"You're burning up," she said worriedly. She disappeared for a moment and faintly, Gohan heard the sound of water running. The next thing he knew, something soft, wet, and cool was placed on his forehead. He could feel Videl's presence next to him.

"I…shouldn't have had…that hot dog earlier…" Gohan groaned.

"Are you having a stomachache too?"

"Well…now that you mention it…"

Videl seemed amused by that remark. "Just close your eyes and gets some rest. Hopefully this will go away while your sleep."

Gohan just grunted in response, his eyelids feeling heavy. Slowly, his vision blurred and fell into darkness. Although the pounding in his head made it more difficult than usual to slip into unconsciousness, the young man eventually made it as the world around him disappeared.

* * *

It was to the glare of sunlight that awoke Gohan. As his face twisted into a grimace, he slowly opened his eyes, looking at the window. The curtains were drawn half-open, or half-closed depending on one's outlook on life. However, that led to a nice opening for the day's sun to enter the room.

Looking to the side of the bed, Gohan expected to see a small table-top with a lamp and clock on it, only to be surprised to see the wall a mere foot away. _Alright, so it's on the other side of the bed._ Rolling over, the young man found the table he sought, along with the clock that said 9:04 AM. It was pretty far away though, the Son man lying on the far side of the bed while Videl lay between him and the table.

_Hold on a minute, Videl?_

Blinking his eyes, he found that he hadn't been deceived as the back of Videl's head faced him from the pillow. She was lying on her side, still in her clothes while the slow expansion of her torso indicated that she was still asleep.

For a moment, Gohan's mind was blank. Nary a thought entered as he stared at the sleeping woman. Slowly, the young man rolled onto his back and stared up at the ceiling.

And then his stomach growled.

A soft groan came from Videl as she began to shift on the mattress. Ultimately, she moved onto her back, closing the distance between their bodies as she looked at him through half-squinted eyes. "You're awake," she commented in a tired tone.

Gohan merely nodded his head as he looked back at her. "Do you feel better?" she asked him.

Thinking about the question, the young man found that he didn't feel sick or anything, so he answered "I feel fine." A pause. "Umm, why are we sharing a bed?"

Videl stretched her arms over her head, her hands pressing into the headboard as her legs extended, her toes pointed as far as they could go. "This is the only bed in the room," she responded as she soon relaxed her body. "And I wasn't going to sleep on the floor."

Raising his head up, Gohan searched the room and found that, indeed, there was only one bed, and they were laying on it. _Huh…_

"I guess that guy at the desk thought we'd be sleeping together," Videl said amused. "What's the point in having two separate beds when two people are intimately involved?"

"I…I guess so." Gohan wasn't sure how to respond to that.

Videl then rolled onto her side, bring herself even closer to Gohan as she looked at him worriedly. Unconsciously, the young man inched towards the edge of the bed. "Are you sure you're okay? You seem out of it."

"Yeah, I'm okay. I don't really remember much about…uhh, what's today?"

"Wednesday."

That caused the young man to frown. "Are you sure it's not Tuesday?"

"Pretty sure. Tuesday was yesterday, the day we checked into this motel. You started feeling bed and laid down. You slept the rest of the day."

"Oh." He grimaced again. "Can't believe I wasted a day for us."

"Don't feel too bad. We can just pick up right where we left off."

"Okay. I guess we should shower first before heading out."

Videl's face lit up at that. "I got dibs," she claimed. Yet, despite her declaration, she seemed to move closer to Gohan; this time, he didn't move away. "Though if you want, we could always share one. Save some time and water."

As visions of two wet, naked bodies assaulted his mind, Gohan looked into the woman's eyes, not quite sure if she was kidding or dead serious. A part of him was taken back by the suggestion, though another part was slowly growing bigger, if not beginning to stand at attention.

A smirk then appeared on Videl's face as she suddenly rolled away from him, moving to get off the bed, her long, dark hair bouncing on her shoulders. "Maybe some other time," she said over her shoulder. She turned her head to look at him once she was standing, that amused grin still on her face. "I won't be too long in the shower, so don't go back to sleep on me."

Gohan numbly nodded his head as he laid his head back down on his pillow. That was…disappointing. Glancing back to Videl, he watched as she stretched once more, her arms raised high over her head.

"So I guess we're going to the other bank today, right?" he asked, more to fill the silence that had fallen between them.

Dropping her arms, Videl replied "Actually, I went there while you were asleep. I figured whoever is after us is expecting a couple instead of a single person."

Gohan lifted his upper body off the bed, using his forearms to hold himself up. A shocked expression covered his face. "But they've seen your face! They could've recognized you!"

Videl turned around to face him coolly. "I was wearing a wig and sunglasses. No one noticed me."

That didn't seem right to Gohan. "Where did you get a wig?"

"My roommate. I stopped at my dorm room and borrowed it. She's got so many of them that she'd hardly notice if one went missing."

"Why would she have wigs?"

A scowl appeared on Videl's face. "What is this, 20 Questions? The point is I did you a favor and took care of our business. The bank was clean like the last one. Shouldn't you be glad?"

Before Gohan could reply to that, a loud knock sounded off at the door. Startled by it, the dark-haired youths looked to the door first, then back at each other questioningly. Their eyes darted back to the door when they heard the knocking again.

Curious, Gohan hauled himself off the bed and stiffly walked towards the door, Videl hanging back as she continued to stare at the door. Unlocking it, the young man swung the door open, finding a bald man in a dark suit standing on the other side. Immediately, his eyes went straight to the man's forehead, where an eye was tattooed.

"Good Morning," the bald man said as he raised a hand up and showed a polished badge. "I'm Agent Shinhan from the NAIE." The man's eyes glanced quickly to Videl before returning to Gohan. "You and your friend need to come with us. We have many things to discuss Mr. Son Gohan."


	16. Chapter 16

**This chapter is brought to you by ShadowMajin**

Gohan was out of his mind. Not literally, but considering that he had just been hauled into a fancy hotel that doubled as the headquarters of a federal agency assigned to investigate the highest profile cases in the world—not to mention that Gohan had a pretty good idea as to why he was here in the first place—it didn't take much to understand why he was fidgeting in his chair.

The man responsible for his arrest was sitting at a desk—well, to be more precise, he was sitting in a chair that faced away from the desk, but that was being nitpicky—facing the young man and Videl, his arms propped up on the armrests and his hands clasped in front of his face. He was Agent Tien Shinhan and he was firmly in control of this room. Behind him was a younger man with long blond hair and a very wide forehead. He was leaning against the desk, facing the same way as the bald man with his arms crossed over his chest.

There were other men wearing identical suits to these two agents, all of them doing some sort of task that Gohan wasn't sure about. Occasionally, one of the agents would leave the room with an arm full of documents, only to be replaced with a new agent who would rummage about the room. These people were excited about something and that didn't bode well for Gohan's fraying nerves.

On the other hand, Videl seemed to be taking this all in stride. She was sitting in the chair next to him, her arms crossed over her chest and one of her legs resting on top of the other. She was the picture of serenity, though how she could be was anyone's guess.

Neither the dark-haired couple or the agents spoke. Heck, it wasn't until one of the other agents approached Agent Shinhan with two folders—which the bald man took—that any form of communication started. Opening the top file, Tien scanned it before he inquired, "You're Son Gohan of Ginger Town, correct?"

Gohan couldn't answer for himself, mostly because he had no idea if he should be cooperating. Or he was just too terrified to answer; either option was feasible at the moment. Tien, however, just kept talking as if he had been answered. "You work for a company in the same town, cubicle work mostly. For the most part you've lead a pretty quiet life. So, mind telling me why you started causing collateral damage all across this fair city of ours?"

"Don't answer that," Videl immediately said, her closest arm shooting out to grab Gohan's forearm. "As a lawyer, I highly suggest you retain legal representation before answering any incriminating questions.

Tien merely raised an eyebrow at that. "You're a lawyer?"

Videl tilted her head up proudly. "That's right."

"Well, that's one answer I needed." With that Tien moved the second file on top of the first one and opened it. "From our search, we came up with nothing on you, not even a name." At this, the agent held the folder up, allowing the two dark-haired youths to see the scant few pieces of paper inside of it. "As far as you're concerned, you don't even exist."

Gohan looked to Videl bewildered. Already, questions were flooding his mind. Who was this girl? Was Videl even her real name? What were her real intentions for being around him?

That look, however, told the bald man even more. "So Mr. Son here doesn't even know." He then leaned back into his chair, making himself comfortable. "Very interesting."

"Actually," the blond man spoke up, "Mr. Son there is actually going under an alias, one of a man wanted in connection in an assassination attempt. Put that with a woman that doesn't exist and we don't have to give into their legal requests."

Tien turned his chair slightly towards his partner and gave him an appraising look. "Right you are, Sharpner." Turning back, he then leaned forward to the couple. "To be frank, you have no rights here. Any requests you make can and will be ignored so we can get to the bottom of our case."

Videl looked outraged by that. "You can't do that! We're legal citizens and we can and will retain our civil rights!"

A smirk appeared on Tien's face. "But there are no records of you, not even when we lifted your fingerprints from Mr. Son's abandoned car. So in that case, you can disappear and no one would go looking for you. If someone does, they won't be able to track you down. Then there's Mr. Son, who is currently on paid vacation. I'm willing to bet that he's in a position that he would rather not be in. If he were to retain the services of a lawyer, that would alert everyone he knows of his involvement in some very nefarious matters. For the sake of him keeping his employment and future career options, he sure as hell isn't going to make much noise. So, that brings us back to where we are now, your only option being to cooperate with us."

Videl's mouth was wide open, moving up and down slightly as she tried to argue that point and failed at it. She ended up settling on a scowl and crossing her arms again.

"That's what I thought. Now back to Mr. Son. You've been through quite a bit these last couple of weeks."

Gohan swallowed, his mouth feeling quite dry. "What do you mean?" he asked raspily.

"Where do I begin? There was the Ox-King assassination, the car bombing that killed your brother; Son Goten, the bombing at the Carlton Gates, and now the shootout in downtown."

"Oh…that."

Tien chuckled at that despite himself. "Yes, that. Now, if you wouldn't mind, tell me what your involvement is with all of this."

Gohan looked to Videl, whose blue eyes were looking into his. There was an imperceptible shake of her head, one that he took to heart. Turning back to Tien, he said "Why should I tell you?"

"Because there are a lot of dead bodies and only one link between them: You. If you don't tell us what we want to know, you'll be finding your fate to be quite unfortunate."

Gohan's eyes narrowed. "You're threatening me?"

Tien returned to look. "Should I be?"

"You can threaten me all you want and I might just tell you everything you want to know. But just because I tell you doesn't mean it would be true."

Tien raised an eyebrow at that. "You mean you would admit to stuff you didn't do?"

"Of course," Videl piped up. "You'll be putting him under duress and eventually he'll reach his breaking point. You could make him admit to a plan to assassinate all of the World Leaders, even if it wasn't true."

The bald agent looked from the young man to the woman and then back. "You know, I get the impression you two don't trust me; yet, you should. You see, I'm the only friend you've got right now and you're both knee deep in a lot of crap. So the moment you start helping me is the moment you start helping yourselves."

"How do we know we can trust you?" Gohan responded. "For all we know, you're also out to get us."

"And why would people be out to get you?"

This time, Gohan and Videl simultaneously raised an eyebrow at the agent. "Hello, we had someone shoot at us with a machine gun in the middle of the day," Videl replied.

For once, Tien seemed frustrated. "That's what I want to know: why someone would do that."

"And you think we would know why?"

The agent looked like he was at the end of his patience. "Yes, yes I do. What's going on with you two is not random, not when you have at least two murder attempts."

"Then you should stop playing dumb," Videl retorted. "You already know people are after our lives and the shooting was an act of desperation. I mean, why do that in the middle of a busy downtown street where the shooter could easily be spotted and identified."

Tien leaned back into his chair. "I suppose, you're right about that. I was suspecting you were running from someone."

That was when Sharpner spoke. "These guys aren't going to cooperate with us."

The bald man glanced to the younger man before nodding his head. "You're probably right. Alright then, let's do this another way." Closing the files on his lap, he tossed them onto the desk and leaned forward in his chair. "Let me tell you what I know about you two."

Gohan couldn't help but lean closer to the agent slightly. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Videl do the same. "Mr. Son here went to see the late Senator Ox-King—we can place him there due to an eyewitness. The senator met with you where he was killed. Then for whatever reason, you took off, probably scared. At the time, Mr. Son was working with his brother Goten and apparently the person who killed Ox-King wanted to make sure both Sons were taken care of two. Thus the car bomb that killed Son Goten, but since Mr. Son was not in the car, he managed to escape."

Tien took a breath. "While on the run, Mr. Son ended up at the Carlton Gates. There he encountered four men in a hotel room, along with a woman." At this, the agent glanced to Videl. "Most likely you."

"We didn't meet—" Videl tried to protest.

"You didn't want talk a second ago, so keep your mouth shut," Tien interrupted harshly, a stern look on his face. "Now, you two met in the hotel, managed to kill men, left a bomb to destroy the evidence, and left. The bomb destroyed half the room, but didn't get the bodies. You then hid out until another assassin—or maybe the same one that killed Ox-King—caught up with you, tried to kill you and you managed to escape. So, does that sound about right?"

Gohan could feel his arms shaking. Was this guy really saying he was a killer? No, no he couldn't be... he wasn't.

Tien leaned back into his chair, crossing his arms over his chest. "So, is that the version you want the courts to hear, or would you rather fill in the blanks for us?"

Gohan looked to Videl just as she did the same thing. "I think we need to tell them," the young man said, the woman nodding her head slowly. Turning back to Agent Shinhan, he began "I did meet with Ox-King; I was there because Goten needed to interview him. He had been blacklisted by the senator due to previous confrontations, so I had to do it."

Sharpner leaned towards Tien's ear and said "He's right about the blacklisting."

Unperturbed, Gohan continued "It was there the senator told me about something wrong in a recently passed bill."

"Which one?" Tien asked.

"The Malone-Engvall. He seemed really ashamed of it before he…died. I then went to the law library at the university to research about it; that's where the two of us met."

Sharpner raised an eyebrow. "So she decided to help you out?"

Videl gave him an annoyed look. "Yeah, I did," she sneered.

"Anyways," Gohan spoke as he tried to return the conversation to his story, "We found something about Securities that seemed strange, so we went to investigate banks, and it was during that that the shooter attacked us."

"Why banks?" Tien inquired. "What was so special about them?"

"We thought the bill was referring to them because banks deal with securities." Gohan sighed then. "But I don't know anymore. Still, whatever is in that bill is why people are trying to attack us."

"People that can get legislation enacted for them," Tien added. "Sounds weak."

"If you were going to kill someone, what would you do it for?" Gohan replied. "What if you had a lot of money riding on something and some guy out of nowhere came and tried to ruin it. Don't you think that's a good motive to kill?"

"I see what you're getting at," the agent replied as he shifted in his chair to get more comfortable. "But you're saying some unknown person or persons are responsible for an assassination and subsequent murders. That's not something that will hold up in court."

"So you're going to pin all this stuff on us, aren't you?" Videl accused.

Sharpner raised an eyebrow as he replied, "You're not giving us any alternatives. You've already acted like wanted felons by leaving multiple crime scenes, not to mention that we can link you every single one of them."

"Not to mention the things we found in your motel room as well," Tien added.

Gohan felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. They had found Goten's gun and surveillance equipment, which meant they thought it belonged to him and not his brother. There were also the multiple currencies and passports they would also undoubtedly find, making their case against the Son man very solid. This… this wasn't good.

Videl seemed to be having the same thoughts as her face paled. "You…have our stuff?"

Sharpner smirked. "In the next room. As far as anyone here is concerned, you two are our top suspects."

"Now," Tien said as he leaned towards them, entwining his fingers together in front of him, "Do you still want to continue stonewalling us or would you rather let the courts handle your fate."

As the two young adults considered their situation, one of the agents made his way towards the door, carrying a box loaded with folders. As he stopped and swung the room door open, the back of his head suddenly exploded with blood, the man dropping to the floor in a heap. Immediately, all the men were looking towards the door, their hands flying to their gun holsters.

Gohan turned to look to the door and widened his eyes. Standing in the doorway was the man from the diner kitchen, dressed from head to toe in black combat fatigues. In one hand was a handgun with a long silencer screwed onto the barrel. His other hand was pressed to the bottom of his gun-holding hand and the butt of the weapon, holding it steady.

Immediately, Gohan dove at Videl, tackling her and knocking her chair over as they fell to the floor. Less than a second later, he heard soft _twacks _as the assassin fired his gun at the agents, the men crying out as they were taken down one shot at a time.

The moment they hit the floor, Gohan began scrambling for the twin beds, one of his hands holding onto Videl's arm as she kept up with him. The moment they were in that space, the young man looked behind him and saw three men lying on the floor, small holes between their eyes as blood leaked out. Agents Shinhan and Sharpner and two others had their guns out and were returning fire at the doorway. Due to the bed next to him, Gohan wasn't able to see the assassin, but since none of the agents were being shot down, he assumed there wasn't any return fire.

That was when Tien appeared next to him, grabbing his shoulder and hauling him onto his feet. "We've got to get you out of here," he said as he kept his eyes on the door.

However, Gohan noticed a door in the corner of the room, one that hadn't been open the entire time he had been here. He had already seen a couple of doors that had led into closets, but that was because they were being used. A sense of dread suddenly began to fill his stomach as he recalled that some hotels had doors that connected to the room next to it. His fear was confirmed when he saw the door suddenly fly open and their attacker stood there, firing his gun once more.

The other two agents were felled quickly, leaving Sharpner on his own as he turned his gun towards the assassin. One bullet hit the blond man in the shoulder, causing him to jerk back before another hit him right in the chest, dropping him to the floor a second later.

The attacker disappeared once more, just before Tien had his gun trained on the door. Seeing no one else, the bald man's eyes shot from one side of the room to the other, searching for where the next attack would come.

Gohan was doing the same thing, kneeling next to Videl who was lying on the floor. Glancing towards the front door, the young man slowly moved his sight towards the other side of the room. That was when he saw the assassin, the man standing right next to Tien as if he had always been there. The agent didn't even see him as he was looking the other way.

With his gun-free hand, the assassin crossed it over his chest and then swung it out, backhanding Tien and sending him flying across the room. Time seemed to slow for Gohan once more as he watched the attacker raise his silencer-tipped gun and fired two shots, one hitting the bald agent in the middle of his torso and the other hitting lower and off to a side on his stomach. A moment later, Tien slammed into the wall and fell to the floor in a crumbled heap.

On instinct, Gohan lunged at the assassin, hitting the man at the waist and wrapping his arms around him. The two were pushed across the room due to the young man's force, the assailant dropping his gun in the process. "Videl! Run!" he shouted as he tried to fully tackle the man.

However, the assassin didn't seem at all concerned with his tactic. Instead, he rose one arm into the air and bent it at the elbow, jerking it down and sending a screaming jolt of pain up and down Gohan's spine. Letting out a cry, the young man felt the assassin grab his arms and rip them off of him. Turning his body around, he swung Gohan into the air and threw him at a wall, the young man hitting it with his head and promptly falling into darkness.


	17. Chapter 17

**This chapter is brought to you by ShadowMajin**

When Gohan came to, he found himself in what was best described as a warzone. The hotel room was in shambles. The floor was covered with dead bodies and debris, both of the beds were mangled beyond recognition, though the remains of one of them was lying in the corner on the other side of the room. There were many holes all over the walls and ceiling, some of which were probably made by the bullets that had been fired by the agents and the assassin.

However, those weren't the only holes; there were much larger ones that littered the walls, each one the size of a ball, maybe even a hand. The edges of those holes were burnt almost as if someone had taken a torch and singed the edges of each hole.

Wide eyed, Gohan took in this chaotic scene, glancing from the walls to the ruined future and finally to the bodies. There wasn't any movement from what he could see and the only sound he could hear was his own labored breathing. For some reason, his body felt exhausted, almost as if he had just finished running a marathon. Parts of him felt sore and beaten, though the reason why escaped him.

A rattling sound soon reached the confused man's ears. Turning his head to look to his left, he saw Videl sitting on the heels of her feet, her legs bent out in front of her, and her back firmly pressed against a wall. Her face was shining with terror as she stared right at Gohan. Her arms were extended right in front of her and clutched in her hands was a handgun, the source of the rattling.

Her hands were shaking violently, which caused the gun barrel to point in several different directions. Unsure of what she was doing, Gohan slowly took a step towards her, one of his hands raised to try and calm her.

"Don't!" she shouted, panic clearly laced in her voice. "Don't come any closer!"

Gohan immediately froze. "Videl?" he said as calmly as he could. Considering he could tell all the way from where he was that the girl's anxiety levels had skyrocketed, just from him looking at her, he knew that one bad move would make her pull the trigger of that gun. Nothing good could come from that. "Could you tell me what's going on?"

"What's going on?" she repeated incredulously. "What's going on?! You just tore apart this entire room!"

Gohan shifted his attention to the room once more. Taking in the destruction once more, an awful feeling welled up in his stomach. "I did this?" he said softly. "But I…I…"

"Don't tell me you forgot!" Videl had removed one of her hands from the gun and was using it to push herself up the wall so she could stand up. Her hand immediately went back to the gun handle the moment she was at full height. "Don't you dare play innocent with me! I saw it all!"

Focusing on the girl again, Gohan felt it was in his best interest to calm Videl down. The calmer she was, the less likely she would be to shoot him and he would very much like not to be shot. "Videl, calm down."

"Quit telling me to calm down!"

"You have a gun pointed at me, Videl. I have no idea why you do, but it's making me a bit uncomfortable."

"Oh, _excuse me _for making you uncomfortable," Videl shot back sarcastically. "I wouldn't want to do that, you know, since you happen to go batshit crazy if you are!"

Gohan didn't resist the urge to press his hand onto his face, his eyes closing as was habit. "You're not making any sense, Videl. It'd be so much easier if you just told me what's going on."

Videl stared at him before her features hardened. "You don't get to play innocent with me," she growled. "I saw everything. _Everything._You're some kind of…monster. That's what you are."

Gohan couldn't help but show the hurt on his face. This reaction was…he didn't know how to describe it. But it hurt, it hurt a lot. He wanted to say something, anything, but he found himself speechless.

That was until he heard a ragged cough. Immediately, Videl turned towards the destroyed bed in the corner of the room, the gun moving with her. Looking himself, Gohan saw a figure sitting amidst the broken metal and wood, his back pressed up against the ruined mattress and his legs sprawled out in front of him. Taking a couple steps to a side, putting distance between him and Videl, Gohan recognized the dark clothing of the assassin.

The man's pants and shirt were ripped in random places, revealing something green beneath it. Purple blood seemed to be leaking out of every rip, especially from one in the assailant's gut. It took a second before Gohan realized that the source of that rip was due to a piece of wood—most likely from the bed frame—piercing through his body. That was the cause of some massive bleeding.

Glancing to Videl, Gohan found that her eyes were focused on their attacker. He quickly turned his head back towards the assassin and slowly began to approach him.

"What do you think you're doing?"

There was something about Videl's tone that he didn't like. It was a big reason as to why he snapped, "I'm going to check him. If he's actually alive, perhaps he can actually tell me what's going on."

The girl was silent for a moment before she said, "You really don't remember."

Gohan chose to ignore her. Step by step, the young man approached the assassin, eyeing the sitting man with a wary eye. He may have been down, but Gohan wasn't foolish enough to think he couldn't still try to attack. Yet, the masked man made no attempt to so much as move. Eventually, the dark-haired youth was kneeling in front of him, his eyes focused on the black mask.

Carefully, Gohan reached up and placed his hands on either side of the man's head. Gripping the black mask, he pulled it off, discovering that the man was really green. Strangely enough, he was also bald and had two odd antennas hanging from his forehead. The man's eyes were closed, but that changed a moment later as he opened them, revealing dark eyes.

For what felt like an eternity, Gohan and the green man stared at each until the latter let out a harsh cough, speckles of blood escaping his mouth. "You're… you're good," the man said.

The young man frowned at that. "I…I don't know what you're talking about."

The green man gazed at him. There didn't seem to be any ill-will in his eyes. "You don't…remember?"

Gohan slowly shook his head in answer. "No."

The assassin looked skeptical about that, calculating even, yet his features eventually softened after a moment. "No…I don't suppose…you would…"

"What does that mean?" the dark-haired youth asked, desperate for answers. In response, the green man's head tilted forward as his body seemed to sag. Immediately, Gohan grabbed the man by the shoulders and began shaking him. "Tell me what that means!"

That woke up the green man as his head jerked up, though his eyes immediately began to close again. "So…tired…" he murmured.

"Tell me what you're talking about!"

It was then that Gohan realize the green man was breathing heavily. It was if every last bit of energy he had was going into maintaining that hampered rhythm. Yet, he managed to say a couple of words. "Project…Dormancy…"

A disturbed frown was on the young man's face. "What is that? What is Project Dormancy?"

The green man's body shuddered as a hacking cough ripped out of him, sending out larger droplets of blood. "They…they'll keep coming…for you…"

"For me? Who? The people you work for?"

The green man slowly nodded his head. Then he edged his head to a side and seemed to be looking somewhere else. Following the man's gaze, he found the assassin was staring at Videl. "Odd company…you keep…never know…who you can…trust…"

Looking between Videl and the green man, Gohan saw a stony look on the girl's face while a smirk appeared on the assassin's. It was almost as if the man was trying to get under Videl's skin and it was clearly succeeding.

Focusing on the green man, Gohan decided to change tracks. "What's your name?"

The question seemed to startle the green man as he returned his attention to the youth. "No one…has ever…asked me that…"

"First time for everything, right?" Gohan replied, doing his best to be light-hearted despite the circumstances.

The assassin chuckled, which ended in another harsh cough. "Piccolo…call me that…"

Gohan gave a small smile. "Okay Piccolo. For what it's worth, I'm sorry you're like this."

"Part of the job…" Piccolo said. "So…tired…"

Finally, the green man's eyes closed as his head tilted to a side. The expansion and contraction of his chest stilled, indicating he had stopped breathing. Staring at the sight, Gohan wasn't sure how long he stayed kneeling at the dead man's body, but if he had indeed caused it, this was the least he could do. Unfortunately, time wasn't completely at his side, especially since he was the subject of a NAIE investigation and was wanted by some shadowy assassination group.

Standing up, Gohan turned around and noticed the files that Tien had on him lying on the floor. Immediately, the young man went to the folders and picked them up, tucking them under his arm and making his way to the door.

"Where do you think you're going?"

The dark-haired man stopped in his tracks. "I'm getting out of here," he replied, not even bothering looking at Videl.

"And you were just gonna leave me here?" she fumed at him.

"According to you, I'm some sort of monster. I didn't think you'd want to stick around." He paused for a moment. "You better get any info these people have on you and take it with you. You wouldn't want them tracking you down again."

He felt Videl's presence right next to him barely a second later. "Oh no, you are not leaving me behind. We're in this together."

Gohan finally turned his head to look at her. "Just a moment ago you didn't want me anywhere near you."

"That was then." Videl seemed frustrated at the moment, like she knew what she wanted to say, but wasn't sure how to say it. "Look, there's something very strange going on here and I know you're going to get to the bottom of it. After everything that's happened, I have to know too. Why people are out to kill me, kill you... what started this whole crazy thing."

Gohan was ready to reply to her, but something caught his eye. Eyeing one of the larger holes in the wall, he caught sight of a familiar case through it. "If you're gonna come, grab whatever you need and do it fast. I'm going into the next room to get something and you better be ready to leave after I get it."

Not giving her a chance to respond, Gohan strode out of the hotel room, swinging the door wide open and entering the hallway. Ignoring the sight of lifeless bodies lying on the floor, he turned to his right and walked to the next doorway, opening it while not being the least bit surprised to find it open. As he entered the room, he saw a couple more bodies lying on the floor, puddles of blood pooling around them. On a bed Gohan saw everything that had belonged to Goten, including the garbage bag that held the things he had taken from Goku's house.

Moving to the bed, Gohan opened the garbage bag and looked inside it, pleased to find everything was still in there and hadn't been removed. Tossing the files into the bag, he reached over and picked up his brother's laptop and placed it in the bag as well. Closing it with the plastic drawstrings, the young man then reached out to the two black cases and grabbed them by the handles, one of them sharing the hand with the garbage bag. He wasn't bothering with the suitcase since the only things in there were clothes. Anything that hadn't been clothing-related had been shoved into the garbage bag when Gohan had changed motels. With everything he needed in hand, the young man exited the room.

As he was reaching the first hotel room, Videl appeared in the doorway. There were a couple of files in her arms along with a laptop computer. Stopping, Gohan couldn't help but glance into the room, taking note of a computer that looked positively destroyed towards the back wall.

"Stop."

Gohan's eyes moved towards the floor of the hotel room, Videl turning around completely. Lying on the floor a few steps away was Agent Shinhan, his arms out before him as if he had dragged himself towards them. They could barely make out a red stain growing upwards on his shirt, most likely from the bullet hole in his chest. His face was strained as one eye was completely closed, the other one half-opened. "You…can't leave…"

A grimace appeared on Gohan's face. "I'm sorry, but we can't stay here."

"We can protect you," Tien said quickly, or at least as fast as he could. His breathing was quite labored, not unlike Piccolo's earlier. "Come in…we can work this out…together…"

"Protect us?" Videl questioned. "You just got massacred barely ten minutes ago. Just look around! All of your people are dead, not just in your room, but in the hallway too." At this Videl turned her head from side to side, trying to emphasise her point despite the fact that the agent was unable to see the entire hall. "And there's no telling how many others were in the rooms on this floor; I can't imagine the assassin leaving them alone before attacking us. So excuse us for not believing you."

"You need us," Tien pressed, ignoring Videl's words. "You can't…do this on your own…"

"They tracked us down here," Gohan replied. "And a lot of people were killed because of us just being here. We can't…I can't let anymore people get hurt by this. So the less people involved, the better. I wish we can stay with you, but we can't."

"You'll be tracked down again… regardless of who it is," the bald man continued to argue. "The people after you, the NAIE, they will find you. All it takes is one… just one slip up. A phone call, a security camera, computer hack… this won't end… not until you let us… help you."

Gohan closed his eyes as his face twisted is distress. "I'm sorry."

Turning away, the young man began walking down the body-littered hallway, Videl following his lead. Faintly, he could hear the agent calling after them.

"No, damn it… don't… don't do this!"

The man's voice kept echoing into Gohan's ears even after the two of them boarded the nearest elevator. Once the elevator doors shut and the steel cage began its descent, the young man said "We need to alert the proper authorities. Get some ambulances to try and save some of them."

"Okay," Videl replied sedately.

"We also need a car. There's no way we'll get very far on foot."

The young woman was silent for a moment before she said, "I can call my father. He can send us a car."

Gohan raised an eyebrow at that. "And you think your father has a car just sitting around for us to use?"

"He has some money, if that's what you mean. He can afford to loan us a car."

"Fine, call him."

A silence filled the elevator. While Gohan wouldn't have minded if it had continued, it was obviously making Videl uncomfortable. "You're mad at me," she stated.

The Son man was not in the mood to talk about it. "Now's not the time."

"Then when is?" she pressed.

"When we're not leaving the scene of a blood bath," Gohan paused at that. "We also need to send for some ambulances. It's the least we can do for Agent Shinhan and whoever else is barely alive up there."

"You already said that."

Gohan glared at the woman. "It bares repeating."

Videl seemed to shrink in on herself. "Okay," she replied meekly once more.

Yeah, he wasn't happy with Videl, but he also wasn't happy about a lot of things. Having a heart-to-heart discussion just wasn't what he wanted to deal with at the moment. There was a body count rising with every day that passed and the most important thing on Gohan's mind was if this entire matter was worth it. After everything that happened, he owed it to the people that had died just to find that out.

* * *

**ShadowMajin would like to thank Saiyajin Love for coming up with the name Project Dormancy. He really appreciates it.**


	18. Chapter 18

**This chapter is brought to you by ShadowMajin**_  
_

_"This is Jimmy Firecracker coming live to you live from the Candlewood Suites Hotel in downtown Orange Star City. According to the hotel staff a mass murder was committed on the seventh floor of this hotel. The entire floor had been rented out to National Agency of Inquiry and Enforcement agents, who were in the midst of an investigation. Several guests of the hotel had reported hearing gunfire earlier in the day. It wasn't until a member of the hotel staff was sent to investigate that the grisly scene was discovered._

_"As of yet, no one other than NAIE personnel, Orange Star Police Department's own forensics team, and emergency service workers have been allowed on the floor, but initial reports indicate several dead with the possibility that a few have survived. No numbers have been given to the media despite constant requests. NAIE Director Roshi has yet to make a statement over the attack, but has assured everyone that the perpetrators will be apprehended shortly."_

Gohan stared at the reporter on the television set. The young man sat at the foot of the bed right in front of the TV, leaning forward as he rested his elbows on his knees, his fingers entwined together just in front of his mouth.

The reporter obviously thought much of himself, from his pressed suit to his dark, gelled hair, which was combed backwards. Still, he wasn't reporting anything that Gohan didn't already know and it seemed the NAIE was keeping a very tight lid on what had happened. There was no telling if Agent Shinhan or anyone else was alive, but the youth highly doubted there would be any survivors at this point. Piccolo had staged his attack very well.

That was another thing. This director guy made a statement saying they had no one in custody for the attack despite the fact that Piccolo's body had been left in the room. Didn't he count as a perpetrator? Or was the NAIE director looking into other suspects—an option that didn't bode well for Gohan or Videl.

After Videl had called her father and a car had been driven to them, they had quickly returned to their motel and checked out. Although unexpected, Videl's father had arranged accommodations at a hotel for them—the Driskill Hilton. As far as he knew, Videl's father had no clue as to why they were on the run, had asked no questions concerning their need for a car, and Videl hadn't even expressed the need for a hotel. It was just one more thing that compounded the fact that Gohan knew little to nothing about his little helper.

And considering the NAIE of all people couldn't find anything on her, this issue bared pondering.

Since it was a young woman's father making arrangements, the two of them had been given separate rooms. They weren't even given the option of adjoining rooms, though Gohan imagined no father wanted to give a strange man access to their "innocent" daughters. Still, the young man preferred this arrangement. That way Videl couldn't get into his room without using the front door. He also had to admit—while staying in low rent motels was a good way to remain off of anyone's radar—the last place anyone would look for him would be a five star hotel a few blocks away from the Carlton Gates.

However, Videl's true identity was also coupled with the things Piccolo had told him. Project Dormancy seemed to mean something to the assassin and he seemed to act that it had something to do with what happened in Candlewood. Gohan couldn't help but get the impression that had something to do with him.

And that was another thing. Gohan hadn't even asked what had happened in that hotel room. Despite having another blank spot in his memory, the young man had the feeling that something happened that he didn't really want to know about. Yet, he did need to know. Whatever transpired concerned him. He had gone from having his head slammed into a wall to standing in the middle of a broken room in an instant—the assassin dying and Videl being utterly terrified of him indicated that whatever happened was very bad, if not traumatic.

The more he thought about it, the more Gohan felt this Project Dormancy was involved.

Glancing to the dresser that the TV rested on, the young man stared at his brother's laptop that also sat there. Upon reaching the room, Gohan had placed the black cases against the wall next to the bed and had dug the computer out of the garbage bag. If there was something about this project thing, perhaps there was a mention of it online.

Standing up, Gohan walked to the laptop, his hands reaching out to it. Before he picked it up though, the young man heard Tien's words in his head. _"A phone call, a security camera, computer hack…"_

If the NAIE could hack a computer, most likely the agency that Piccolo worked for could also. In fact, if Gohan wanted to track someone down, searching his target's computer would be very helpful. Considering that someone wanted him and Goten dead, all they had to do was check out Goten's computer and figure out what he was doing on it.

Which meant they could have found out that Goten and him would be at Ox-King's. They could have sent an assassin to kill Ox-King and then follow the two of them back to their motel, where they planted a car bomb in Goten's car. Then there was Piccolo's attack after Savings and Loans Securities. Piccolo had to know they would be on that particular street in order to attack them like he did. He had to know they would be at that back and the route they would take to the other bank. And since Gohan had done a map search after sending Videl back to her dorm, he would have known the young man's exact route.

Gohan drew back his hands from the laptop. It was compromised; there was no way he could use it now. Well, except for the computer games, but there was no way he would risk that. Who knew if this agency could access anything on a computer while it was on.

Raising his hands, Gohan pressed them onto his face before slowly dragging them along either side of his head, through his hair until they reached the back of his head. _What do I do know?_He was running out of options fast.

Things were getting dangerous—very dangerous. With a glance to one of the black cases, Gohan slowly stood up and walked over to the one holding the sniper rifle. Unlatching it, he opened the case and gazed at the weapon, soon diverting his attention to a smaller weapon. Ever since the Carlton Gates incident, Gohan had made sure to keep the handgun he had purchased from Krillen's in the case. Well, to be more precise, he had been placing the gun there after Videl had stumbled upon the rifle. Feeling that he hadn't wanted to freak the girl out any more than she already was by keeping a weapon on his person, the young man stashed the gun in the case and pretty much forgot about it.

It seemed that it was time to change his decision.

Picking up the gun, Gohan checked the magazine and was disappointed to find it empty. For some reason he found this odd since he was pretty sure he hadn't fired it before. Placing the clip on the Styrofoam bedding, the young man checked the chamber, also finding it empty. _That's unfortunate._

A moment later, Gohan found himself digging into his garbage bag again. He wasn't sure why he had turned to it all of a sudden, but it turned out to be a good move. Inside he found a couple magazines, ones he had purchased with the gun and had completely forgotten about them. It was almost a shame that he hadn't also bought a box of bullets, though at the time he was completely out of his depth when it came to purchasing weapons. Picking up the clips, he placed them next to the empty magazine on the case bedding, all except for one which he loaded into the handgun.

And that was when he heard a knock at the door.

Instantly, Gohan moved the gun behind him, tucking it the waistband of his pants. Closing the case—though leaving it unlatched—he then stood up and walked over to the door. Upon opening it, he found Videl standing on the other side, looking at him expectantly. "May I come in?" she asked.

Gohan merely stood to aside, allowing the dark-haired woman to enter. The lack of communication seemed to cause some tension between them, but for the moment it didn't worry Gohan. He wasn't in the mood to be chummy.

Shutting the door once Videl had walked by, the young man watched as the woman approached the bed and turned around, facing him head on. "We need to talk," she said simply.

"Yes, we do," Gohan agreed.

Videl hardened her features upon hearing the Son man's tone. "You've been copping quite an attitude lately. What's the deal?"

"You don't tell me much," Gohan replied. "In fact, you don't tell me much of anything."

"What's that suppose to mean?"

"I asked you what happened in the hotel room. You pointed a gun at me and called me a monster." Gohan gazed stonily at the girl. "That's one thing."

Videl stared at him as if she wasn't sure how to react to that. Eventually, she responded "You're sniping about some hurt feelings? Is that it?" She shook her head in disgust. "You need to do some serious growing up."

"Perhaps I will once you tell me who you are," Gohan shot back.

This time Videl rolled her eyes. "Now you're sounding like a petulant child."

"It's a simple request. Who are you?"

Annoyance was clearly written on the woman's face. "Fine, if that's how you want to play it. I'm a law student at Orange Star University."

Gohan held his stance. "You didn't answer my question. Who are you?"

"I am not going to be playing this stupid game," Videl replied, her patience seeming to run out. Walking towards him, she tried to get to the door, but Gohan remained firmly in her way. "Gohan, get out of my way."

The young man continued his impassive stare-down. "Who. Are. You?"

Videl growled audibly. "Get. Out. Of. My. Way."

Although he hadn't wanted the conversation to go this way, the girl wasn't giving Gohan much of a choice. Taking a step back, he reached behind him and pulled out the gun tucked in his waistband. Extending his arm, he pointed it right at Videl's face, aiming for a spot right between her eyes. Immediately, Videl went still, staring into the barrel of the handgun.

"I'm sorry about this, but you're leaving me no choice," Gohan started. "As of right now, I'm wanted by the NAIE for who knows how many murders. I also have some secret assassin agency that wants me dead at all costs and that's not including some mysterious woman that for whatever reason decided to be my partner on this mad quest. I cannot afford to not know anything about you now, not after I just saw a bunch of trained federal agents get slaughtered by a highly-skilled assassin who died mere minutes afterwards and the only people who saw it happen to think I was the one who killed him. Now answer my question: who the hell are you?"

Videl's eyes flickered between the gun and Gohan's face. "Like I said," she began slowly, "I'm just a law student from the local university. That's it."

_So that's the way she was going to play this. Fine._"A student who has a rich father, correct?" the young man added.

"Yes, my father is rich," she confirmed.

"And you didn't tell him a word about what's going on, right?"

"Not a word."

Gohan hardened his features. "Then explain to me why he rented out two hotel rooms for the both of us instead of instructing you to go back to your dorm. If he had no idea about us being on the run, then there's no reason he would make that offer. And if he did know, I doubt he would simply choose to put you up in a hotel instead of flying here and whisking you out of the city."

Videl's eyes widened at the implication. "I…I asked him if he could arrange us—"

"You asked him for a hotel room and he insisted on two?" the young man interrupted. "Without asking why you would want one? You're not winning me over here Videl."

The woman's eyes glazed over as she attempted to think of a reason. At any other time, Gohan would have marveled how he was able to read her like a book; this wasn't one of those times. "Videl," he said as helpless as he could, trying to appeal to some empathy from her. "Help me."

Instantly, he saw the dark-haired woman's eyes soften. However, her answer wasn't the one he was looking for. "I can't."

"Why not?"

"Because if I do, you'll want to kill me."

Gohan could feel his stomach sink upon hearing that. It was like Goten all over again. Although he wanted nothing more than to collapse on the floor weeping, he didn't have that luxury. "Believe me when I say this: I don't want to shoot you. I've had enough death to last me a lifetime." The young man could nearly hear his voice crack as he spoke. "Just tell me what I need to know."

Videl was completely focused on him by now, ignoring the gun completely. It took a very long moment before she said "You don't mind if I sit on the bed, do you? This might be a long story."

The Son man nodded his head. Slowly, Videl backed away from him, making her way back to the bed. Sitting on it, she placed her hands on top of the bed cover, making sure that she didn't appear to be a threat. All the while, Gohan had followed her step by step, coming to a stop on the wall facing the bed and pressing his back against it.

"There's no easy way to say this," Videl began uneasily, "But it's best if I just say it bluntly. I'm an assassin."

Gohan swallowed loudly, his eyes wide with alarm. "Who for?"

"Not the people out to kill you," she replied hastily. "I work for…let's just call it a rival group."

"So why are you involving yourself in this?" he all but demanded to know.

"Because it hurts our competitors." With every word she said, Videl seemed to be relaxing. "Everyone in our business likes to keep tabs on everyone else. The top assassins for each agency usually have their movements followed very closely. So when one of them suddenly disappears, it gets everyone's attention."

"So you would keep tabs on Piccolo, for instance?" Gohan asked for clarification.

"Yeah. He was codenamed the Demon due to his relentless pursuit of his targets."

"So what's yours?"

The corner of Videl's mouth twitched for some reason. "The Devil."

Gohan paused for a moment. "So, it wouldn't be a good idea to ask you about other agents from your agency."

Videl nodded her head in agreement. "Yeah, it would be best. Besides, we're not the ones that are after you. In fact, you could say we're helping you."

"Helping me do what?" Gohan paused for a moment before the answer hit him. "Oh, to hurt your rival."

"I never said we had good intentions," Videl said as if she were apologetic.

_You can say that again._"So why did you seek me out?" the young man asked. "I wasn't on anyone's radar until recently."

"Another assassin we kept an eye on. She had been called in to do a job and we watched her and her cronies do their work." Videl seemed to zone out for a moment as she added offhandedly "My boss had been trying to get her in our group for awhile, but she said he couldn't pay her enough."

"Who was she?" Gohan asked curiously.

"Code name was Android. No one really knows her background, but then you could say that about any of the agents. Blonde, slim, very effective."

A brief flash of the women from the Carlton Gates appeared in Gohan's head. "You last heard of her at the Carlton Gates."

Videl seemed hesitant to answer that, but eventually she did. "Yes, that's right."

"And you and I ran into each other shortly after that," Gohan continued. "So either you stumbled upon me or you managed to track me down."

The dark-haired girl was quiet at that. Then she said slowly "It was a bit of both. We had a…contact identify you through security footage at the hotel. We started looking for you, but I had to go maintain my cover."

"As a law student?" Gohan butted in, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, that's my cover for the moment. That's when I saw you and made contact."

"You recognized me that easily?"

"Well, you do have a distinctive haircut. After seeing it so many times, it's hard not to notice it."

_Multiple times?_That phrasing troubled the dark-haired youth. Videl made it sound like she had seen him on many occasions. "You've seen me before?"

"Your picture," Videl clarified. "We had an image from the security feed printed it and distributed to all the agents. I took a look at you many times to make sure I was seeing the right person."

"Yet you recognized me instantly at the law library," Gohan countered. "I'm assuming you didn't have the photo on you at the time."

Videl was silent once more, causing the young man to feel edgy. "I…I have to admit that I had seen you before the Carlton Gates."

"Where? Where did you see me?"

The woman looked to the floor, lost in thought. She glanced up to look him in the eyes before looking at the floor again. "At Ox-King's office."

Gohan felt his blood freeze in his veins. A very nasty thought was growing in his head and he didn't like the implication. Yet, she was an assassin and there was only one reason why she would be at the late-senator's office. "You shot him."

Videl slowly nodded her head. "Yes."

"And you saw me through the window. But…you acted like you had no idea about me when we first met."

"I had to pretend that I didn't know. It was pretty easy since you didn't know me. You thought I was an innocent bystander, remember?"

Gohan tilted his head back, the back of his skull hitting the wall with a soft thud. "Everyone I meet is a killer," he said dejectedly.

Videl watched him sympathetically. "How would you know? You lived your entire life in a cubicle. How could you know about this stuff?"

The dark-haired man soaked those words in. "So now what?" he asked. "Now that I know who you are and you know me, what are you going to do? I doubt you can let me leave."

"Actually, I don't know you," the woman replied matter-of-factly. "Despite being ill-equipped, you managed to survive everything that's been thrown at you." It looked like she wanted to chuckle at that moment, but refrained from doing so. "I'm starting to think that maybe there's more to you than even you know."

Gohan wasn't sure how to take that. On one hand he felt his survival was more due to luck. On another hand, it seemed like there was something strange going on and it all centered around him. Blacking out only to wake up and find mass destruction, the reactions of Videl and Piccolo in the hotel, not to mention everyone he met was either an assassin or about to be assassinated.

Though he was curious about what had happened in the hotel room after he had lost consciousness, Gohan was afraid of what he would find out. It was as if there was something in his head that prevented him from actively trying to figure it out and he was fine with that. Or at least he had always been that way. Even when he had those blanks in his memory as a boy, he had never felt the need to figure out what had happened in those lapses. That was…a bit disturbing.

The young man shook his head to clear it. He couldn't be worried about that at the moment. Instead, he needed to focus on his next step. Other than the blackout, the only thing he had a question about was that thing Piccolo had mentioned, the Project Dormancy. From the way the assassin had said it, it was as if it explained everything.

"Can you tell me what Project Dormancy is?" Gohan asked Videl, looking to her for her answer.

"I've heard it mentioned before," she admitted, "But I can't say I know very much about it. As I understand it, someone was going to all the assassin agencies with a proposal, though no one seemed interested in it. Perhaps you should try an internet search. There might be some information there."

Gohan glanced hesitantly at the laptop. "No, can't do that."

The dark-haired woman gave him a strange look. "Why not?"

Nodding his head towards the computer, the young man said "I believe my brother's laptop has been compromised. Someone managed to hack into it and figured out what we were doing."

"I'm not following you."

With a sigh, Gohan tried his best to explain himself. "Haven't you wondered how Piccolo managed to attack us downtown? Like he had been waiting for us to show up?"

"Of course I've thought about it," Videl replied. "And you think he managed to hack your computer?"

"Yeah. I mean, how do you explain him being on that exact street waiting for us? He would've had to know we were going down that specific street. He didn't just get lucky that we did, it was as if he knew we would. He knew we were going to those two banks and that we'd be going from one to another. The only way he could have known that is if he had been on the computer since you did a search of those banks and I did a map search on them."

That argument made Videl pause to consider it. "That…makes a lot of sense," she admitted. "And even if it isn't true, we can't take any unnecessary risk. The computer I took from the NAIE could also be similarly compromised." A new thought then caused her to perk her head up. "Perhaps Father will know something."

Gohan raised an eyebrow at that. "Father?"

That caused the woman to halt her train of thought. "Oh, um, that's the codename for my boss. He insisted on it."

"I guess anything he knows would be helpful," Gohan replied slowly. "Just be careful what you tell him. I'd rather not have him suddenly order you to try and kill me."


	19. Chapter 19

**This Chapter is brought to you by ShadowMajin**

The house was ordinary-looking. Two stories, brown bricks, wooden porch, everything about it screamed normal. And yet, this was the place Gohan found himself staring at.

Videl's boss had proven well-informed. He had told her the guy's name and given his home address. Sitting in their car, the two dark-haired youths stared out of the passenger side window. It was as if neither were sure if they should go up to the house or not.

"Are you ready for this?" Videl asked from the driver's seat. She had been silent during the entire drive over here, but then what could they talk about? That she had some agenda of her own? Not a very interesting subject from Gohan's point of view. All small talk had pretty much been cast aside once the woman's identity had been revealed.

"As ready as I'll ever be," the young man finally answered. Unlatching his seatbelt, he opened the car door and climbed out, Videl following his example simultaneously. Waiting a moment for the assassin to walk around the car, the two then walked up the sidewalk towards the porch. The wooden structure gave a groan of protest the moment they stepped on it. It was only a couple more steps to the front door after that.

"Stay out of sight," Videl suddenly said as she reached the door.

Looking to her, Gohan had a confused look on his face. "Why should I do that?"

"The doctor here will recognize me the moment he opens the door," she explained. "Who knows what he'll do the moment he sees me. If he tries anything suspicious, he won't see you coming to stop him."

Nodding his head in understanding, the young man stood to a side of the door, out of view of it, but close enough to step in if necessary. Videl stood in front of the door and confidently rang the doorbell. The ring of the bell was appeared muffled, but they heard it all the same.

With his head turned, Gohan watched for the house's occupant to open the door. He was so focused that a sudden flash towards the top of his vision startled him. Blinking his eyes, the young man tilted his head up and caught sight of a security camera angled towards them, a small red light blinking on and off every other second. _What does he need a camera for?_

The sudden opening of the door directed Gohan's attention back to where it should have been. From where he stood, he couldn't see who had opened it, but it was clear that the person wasn't very trustful as he or she didn't attempt to move the door any further than necessary. "What do you want?" a rather high-pitched voice demanded. Due to the pitch, it was hard for Gohan to determine whether it was a man or woman.

"Are you Dr. Edwin Flappe?" Videl asked pleasantly, not the least taken back by the person's tone.

"Yes?" the person replied hesitantly, almost as if he wasn't sure if he should be answering that question. "I ask again: what do you want?"

"I'm from the Royal and Rayne Real Estate firm," the young woman answered. It sounded as if she had practiced that response many a time Gohan noted. "I've been sent here to inquire over a business proposition of yours."

There was a pregnant silence, one that began to eat away at Gohan's nerves. Something about this Flappe person's lack of response was worrisome. Eventually Flappe snorted with derision. "And why should I believe you? Your boss already laughed me out of his office."

Videl wasn't deterred in the slightest. "Father has come to realize that he was a bit hasty in his denial. He has sent me to request more information concerning your proposal."

There was another silence, but this one didn't last as long as the first one. "Just a moment," the doctor murmured before shutting the door. The distinct sound of a door chain being unlocked was made followed by the door being opened wider. "Please come in."

Immediately, Videl entered through the doorway, Gohan following her a moment later. It was then he came across the mysterious Dr. Flappe. The man's yellow suit jacket seemed to hand from his thin frame. His hair seemed to be permed into a large, light-colored afro. A thin, pointed moustache hung from his upper lip. Currently, his face was frowning, if not becoming hostile. "Who is this?" he demanded outraged, his large, round glasses shifting on his face as it twisted with anger.

For a moment, the young man was surprised. The guy had a security camera staring down on the front door. Shouldn't he have known there were two people standing on his porch?

Videl merely glanced to the young man before she answered "This is Son, Father's heir apparent."

Flappe didn't seem the least bit appeased. "But your firm is female only."

_That was an important piece of information to have._ Gohan could feel himself starting to sweat. They had just met the guy and already his nerves were shot. Not a good way to start a meeting. And apparently Videl worked for a gender-specific group, excluding the boss. That was surprising.

"Like I said, heir apparent," Videl reiterated, her tone laced with annoyance. "He's the boss' kid and he wants him to learn the ropes. Now if you're done giving us the third degree, we have important matters to discuss."

That was a jolt to Flappe's system. Almost as if he just realized the implication of this visit, he did a one-eighty from suspicious to welcoming. "Oh yes, yes, I apologize. Please come in." Taking the invitation at face value, Gohan moved further into the house as the doctor closed the door behind him. A moment later and Flappe hurried through the cozy-looking living room and headed for a closet door. Opening it, a descending staircase was revealed, the older man turning to face the two and moving a hand up to indicate they should proceed towards the stairs. "If you would, let's retreat to my office."

Seeing no reason not to, the dark-haired couple made their way to the stairs, Videl descending them first with Gohan after her. Flappe once again closed the door behind them as he followed the two down. They soon came into a cement basement lined with folding tables along the walls. Various piece of equipment sat on the tables, looking as if they were there to merely collect dust. There were a couple of wooden doors that formed gaps in the table line, but there didn't seem anything important about them.

Hanging from the ceiling was a crossing of several metal pipes welded together. Large squares were formed by the bars and at each corner were emergency lights beaming down light. Oddly enough, metal chains seemed to hang from the bars at various points, though Gohan couldn't see any reason why they would be there.

The heels of Flappe's dress shoes clicked on the smooth floor as he moved towards the opposite wall, taking a seat in a rotating chair that sat in front of a desk. Incidentally, there were two chairs positioned further way, facing the desk. Taking their cues from the doctor, the two youths took seats in the chairs. As Flappe faced them, he pressed his hands together and held them in front of his face. "So, what do you wish to know?"

"Let's start with the basics," Videl said as she made herself comfortable in her chair, crossing one of her legs over the other. "Tell us about Project Dormancy."

Nodding his head, Flappe answered "Project Dormancy is a training program with the objective of creating sleeper agents. The agents could be anyone: a homeless man, a soccer mom, the CEO of a major corporation. The goal was to train the subjects to become highly-skilled, extremely deadly assassins all without the subject knowing."

Videl skeptically raised an eyebrow. "What good are assassins that don't even know they're assassins?"

"A stimuli is needed to activate them," the doctor replied nonplussed. "Once exposed to the stimuli—be it a sign, a signal, whatever you wish it to be—the subject would drop all pretense of their life and assume their assassin personality. Once they completed their objective, they would revert to their original state without even being aware of what they had done."

"You're talking about disposable assassins," the dark-haired woman bluntly said.

"More like assassins that could not be traced to their employer," Flappe shot back. It was pretty clear he had heard that argument before and was not happy to hear it again. "Just think, no more would you have to worry about an agent being captured and essentially losing all of their experience and skills, not to mention the possibility the agent may snitch on their employer. No more would an agency have to come up with cover lives and stories to hide their agents when they were inactive. The sleeper agent already has a life to hide in; there's no risk of them ratting out the agency if they were captured."

Glancing to Videl, Gohan could see on her face that she didn't like this doctor's program. On some level, this guy was offering an alternative to the woman's ilk, so naturally she wouldn't like anything that robbed her of her job security. For the young man, it was a scary thought to think that anyone could be one of these sleeper agents. He could already imagine one of his co-workers suddenly going active and kill a number of people at his workplace—not that there were any important people there to begin with.

Feeling as if he needed to contribute to the conversation, the young man inquired "How do you perform the training? What does it all entail?"

"The subject needs to be broken down mentally to the lowest level of subconscious," Flappe replied simply. "A state of mind where the subject is most susceptible to instruction is required for the training to be instituted. There's an old wives' tale where a person can command a sleeping person to do whatever they wish. The program follows this concept and attempts to create this situation. It is at this subconscious level that implementation is done."

"You're talking about brainwashing," Videl spoke up, her tone hard and very contemptuous.

"In a manner of speaking, yes," Flappe admitted. "For some reason, people get very queasy when that subject is broached."

Videl deadpanned her response. "Gee, I wonder why. I'm surprised more people haven't taken you up on your idea."

Apparently Dr Flappe was unable to distinguish between sympathy and sarcasm as he said "It's very frustrating. You would think groups that considered people disposable would jump at the chance."

"So no one else has accepted your proposal?" Gohan asked.

"Not a single person has," the doctor replied with frustration. A moment barely passed when his features smoothed out as he began to look contemplative. "Well, actually there was one person about twenty years ago or so. I had just suffered another rejection when a man showed up at my front door asking about Dormancy. Considering all the denials I had received by that point, I was naturally quite skeptical at his interest. But he seemed genuinely curious about my work so we talked."

"Would you happen to know where we can find this person?" Videl asked, sitting straighter in her seat as she became interested with this new development. "We'd like to hear his opinion on the project."

Flappe shook his head in the negative. "I have no idea where is he now. We had several meetings discussing the project; I thought I finally had my big break when he just suddenly disappeared. I tried calling him, but I could never reach him." The man's aggravation returned in full force. "He was my last hope."

Gohan grimaced at the doctor's mood. Considering he had been in the man's shoes more than enough times these last three weeks, he could appreciate the sentiment. "Do you have a name we could use?"

"His name was Kay," Flappe immediately answered. "Paul Kay."

The very blood in Gohan's veins froze. Already, the Kay passport with Goku's face flooded his mind. He could practically see it in front of his eyes. Swallowing hard, the hardest he had ever had to, the young man asked, his voice thick with emotion, "Was this man tall, dark hair that pointed in every direction, strong-looking?"

The doctor jerked his face to stare at the youth. "Yes, yes!" his voice said, growing louder with each word. Greedily he demanded "You've seen him, haven't you? Where is he?"

Gohan swallowed again. Faintly, he was aware of Videl looking at him concerned. It was almost as if they were at the motel again, when he had been blindsided by that intense migraine. "I-it was…some time ago," he lied. He couldn't tell this guy just who "Paul Kay" was. Heck, he couldn't tell him who he was. "A year or two, I think. It was mostly in passing."

Flappe slumped in his chair. "Then you don't know how to get in touch with him?" There was a hopeful quality in the man's voice.

"No, I can't say I do." The words on Gohan's tongue felt like ash. A sinking feeling was filling his stomach and he didn't like it one bit. "But I might have an idea of where to start looking. I'll be sure to get you contact information when….when I do."

Flappe's eyes lit up at that. "Thank you, really, I mean it."

Although he would have liked to leave this room, there was something that began nagging Gohan in the back of his head. It was as if a part of him was dying to know something, something he wasn't aware that he had wanted to know. He gave into the urge immediately. "Would you mind telling me what you and this Kay person were talking about?"

"Pretty much the same information I've given you," the doctor shrugged. "We discussed the various training techniques and all the possible results that could manifest." A small smile appeared on the man's face. "In fact, he was very eager about learning all about it. He seemed so sure that his superiors would be against the program and that he needed to know as much about it as he could. I had even joked that he could start his own company if—excuse me, when he committed to the program."

"Really, his own agency?" Videl asked skeptically.

Flappe was affronted by the doubt. "Of course. I'll have you know that he was in serious consideration of it."

_His own agency._ Was that what his father had been up to? Trying to strike out on his own? Yet, he had worked for the same people for the last couple of decades at least. Was it just a fanciful fantasy or had that dream been abandoned at some point? It was possible that Goku could have wanted his own group and felt like this Dormancy project could help, only to become disillusioned with it after awhile and give up.

"What sort of techniques are involved with this program?" Gohan asked as he shifted in his chair. Perhaps if he found out what was all involved with this thing, he could get a better idea of what his father had been thinking.

"There are quite a few that can be used," Flappe answered, a glare on his face as he stared at Videl. Slowly, he turned his head to face the young man as he continued "Success varied per technique, but a couple showed promise."

"Such as?"

Flappe seemed to faze out mentally, searching for an example. Then his head perked up. Spinning in his chair, he stopped when he faced his desk and leaned down, opening one of the lower drawers. Reaching inside, he pulled out a long piece of twine with what looked like a medallion attached to it. Holding it up, Flappe turned back to face the dark-haired couple and said "This one held the most promise."

_Hanging in front of his face was a piece of string, a round, shiny ball hanging from it. Or was it some sort of coin? And…for some reason…he felt dizzy…_

_The room around Gohan faded away as he stared at the ball. Slowly, it began to swing from side to side at a slow pace. There seemed to be lines engraved in the ball, the motion of it causing them to creating a spinning sensation. His eyes were stuck as the spinning as he hypnotized him._

_"Just watch…"_

_The voice felt familiar, yet foreign. Part of it was comforting, though another part felt disturbing. Gohan wanted nothing more than to get out of there, wherever there was, yet he was glued to his chair._

_No…no, he wasn't glued. Shaking his arms and legs, he found they were strapped down with thick leather straps._

_"Gohan…keep your eye…on the ball…"_

A pounding formed in the young man's head, causing him to press his hand onto his forehead. It took a couple of seconds for him to realize he wasn't strapped down and was still in Flappe's basement. Had always been in the basement. Yet, it had felt so real…

"—there any side-effects to this?" he heard Videl's voice ask, causing Gohan to focus on what was going on in front of him. Never mind that his skin was beginning to feel clammy and wet from sweat.

"There…are a few," Flappe answered hesitantly. "Memory loss for one, but that was the way the techniques are designed—so that the subject doesn't remember. That one is easily remedied if the instructor just creates a memory to fill the gap between the start of the session to the end. Otherwise, the subject will have blank spots throughout their memory."

_As a child, there had been a few times where he had blank spots in his memory. One moment he was one place, the next a large amount of time had gone by and he had no recollection of it._

"In a few instances," Flappe continued, "Part of the subconscious leaked into the conscious state. Subjects mentioned that they felt something nagging them in the back of their head, telling them what to do."

_His brother really had thought of everything. For some reason though, something was nagging at him. Like why Goten would go to the effort of stealing security footage and wiping away fingerprints. There was something not adding up here._

Try as he might, the young man couldn't repress the wince that covered his face at that. Immediately, he stood up from his chair and moved behind it, causing both Videl and Flappe to look at him curiously. "Keep going," he managed to say, despite the pounding in his head growing worse and worse. "I just need to…to…stretch my legs."

"Okay then…" Videl trailed off as she stared at him. She didn't sound sure by his excuse, but that was of little concern at the moment.

At the moment, the only thing in Gohan's head was that last side-effect: the nagging in the back of his head. There had been quite a few occasions when he had been with Goten when he had felt those sensations. But they hadn't always been in that motel room they shared. It had been at their very first meeting in the diner, where he had managed to get his brother to spill everything he knew. Gohan had turned the tables on the young man and played him like a piano.

_Every nerve and fiber of Gohan's being was shouting for him not to divulge any more that he knew. Yet, Gohan had the feeling that if he was less than truthful with this man, it would end badly._

_Hmm, how much should he tell him? Obviously not everything, but Gohan needed to at least give out enough evidence that his conclusion was acceptable. Who knows, Goten may give him more proof about what their father had been up to all this time—besides having a second family and a secret job, of course._

The searing pain ripped through Gohan's head, causing him to twist his face with pain. Turning to a side, he slowly staggered towards one of the walls, resisting the urge to grab his head. It seemed as if the doctor and Videl were oblivious to his pain as they continued to talk, though what they were saying felt as if it were a thousand miles away.

For some reason, Gohan's mind drifted back to the hotel room where Piccolo had killed all of those NAIE agents. Specifically, he focused on those burnt holes in the walls that stood out when compared to the bullet holes. If there was a perfect metaphor for what he felt like his mind was going through, those burnt holes were it.

_Burnt holes…_

What had caused those holes? It wasn't a bullet and there wasn't any sign of a fire in the room, so how were they made? Glancing to the doctor, a thought crossed the young man's mind. This guy was a scientist of sorts, so perhaps he might have some answers. Steadying his breathing, he turned to face Flappe and Videl, both of them still engrossed with their conversation. "Excuse me," he said, causing the two to stop talking and look at him startled. "Do you know anything that would cause a hole to be burnt on its edges?"

Flappe looked lost to the question. "Burnt edges on holes?" he asked perplexed. "I…I don't know what this has to do with Dormancy."

Gohan closed his eyes as he took a deep breath, trying to relax himself. Fortunately it seemed to work. "There were these holes I found once, where the holes were burnt by something. I was hoping you knew something about it."

Videl seemed to know exactly what he was talking about. "Yeah, I've seen the same thing. There were also these light beams that came from hands."

Or maybe not.

Again, the doctor seemed to have no idea what they were talking about when something in his mind clicked. "Oh! I think I know what you're talking about." Flappe readjusted his body in his seat as he said "Kay was the one to introduce me to that concept, since he had this odd ability to make these light beams. He said it was this energy called ki. I'm not too sure where it comes from to be honest—all Kay said was some weird spiritual stuff. As I understand it though, it's very hard to use, if not control. Your average person will never be able to use it in their lifetime. It's like there's a prerequisite for having a talent in it and even then the most anyone is able to use is little beams from their fingers. Kay mentioned one or two people being able to use their hands, but those people were extremely rare."

"Only a couple?" Videl inquired strongly. It was almost as if she didn't accept that number. "Are you sure about that?"

Flappe held his hands in front of him to placate the woman. "I don't know more than that. I never studied it so I have no idea what you can or can't do with it."

Another dead end, but at least there was some information. Still though, Gohan had no idea what these light beams were about. Videl seemed certain that these strange beams of light were the cause of them. But why would she keep that to herself? Better yet, why hadn't she told him when he forced her to reveal herself as an assassin? There was no reason not—

_That was when she lifted up hand and extended her index finger, pointing it right in front of Gohan's face. It took a moment, but eventually the tip of her finger began to glow with a bright light._

Once more, that burning agony returned with a vengeance, causing Gohan's knees to buckle on themselves. Falling backwards, the young man felt his backside come into contact with the table that sat in front of the wall he had walked to. A loud groan came from the table as pieces of equipment rattled on it from the collision. That definitely got Videl and Flappe's attention as they looked at him. "Gohan?" Videl called out worriedly, or so the young man thought. He wasn't too sure what it was. Both of his hands were pressed onto his face, his fingers digging into his skull as another flash of pain burned its way through his head.

_If Gohan had been scared of the gun, he was horrified at the sight of that light. Dread filled his stomach as he instinctively pushed himself against the wall, doing whatever he could to put as much distance between him and that light. He could even feel heat radiating off her finger. His brain was screaming with wild abandon as it sensed danger. And that was what that light was: danger._

_"Goodnight, sweet prince," Hatchi whispered to him._

_His mind shut down for a moment, but when it returned, there was no fear. There was only action. Shooting his right hand up, he slammed his palm into the side of Hatchi's hand, knocking her glowing finger to a side before it fired right next to his head. Overextending his arm to his side, he then whipped it out towards the blonde woman, backhanding her across the face and sending her flying across the room and into the wall on the other side._

_The other four men were looking stupefied at Gohan, allowing the young man to get his feet under him, remaining crouched on the floor. By then, the man that had been standing closest to Hatchi got over his daze and aimed his gun at him. With lightning quick reflections, Gohan shot a hand out and grabbed the man's wrist of his extended arm and pulled it to him. The man stumbled towards him as the gun was safely at the younger man's side._

_With his right hand, Gohan reached to his back and pulled out the gun nestled in his waistband. In one fluid move, he moved the gun around him, unlocking the safety, and leveled it point-blank at the man's chest._

_The loud explosion of the igniting gunpowder filled the room as bullets ripped through the man's body and exited out the back. A soft thud was heard, indicating the man had dropped his gun from being shot. Pushing himself up to stand, Gohan held the man in front of him up, using him as a human shield. Extending his arm out, the dark-haired youth fired his gun at the man closest to the door, hitting him between the eyes. The man immediately dropped to the floor._

_Turning to the next man and seeing him pulling out his own gun, Gohan immediately took a shot the moment he had turned his gun on the new target. Once more, the man dropped to the floor, a bullet hole also between his eyes._

_As his eyes came onto the last man standing, Gohan immediately saw his opponent's gun was drawn and aimed right at him. Instinctively, he ducked further behind his shield just as a bullet was fired, penetrating the dead man's shoulder. Pointing his gun at the last man, Gohan fired a shot at the man's shoulder, the man instantly jerking back from the force as he was hit. As the man tried to recover from the shot, Gohan took advantage of the time it gave him and fired another shot, this one hitting him in the forehead._

_As his last target dropped to the floor, Gohan released his hold on his human shield. Keeping his gun up, the young man looked to Hatchi, seeking to end this encounter permanently. However, he miscalculated how long she was out as she was in midair in front of him, swinging a kick at him._

_Instead of hitting him though, the woman's foot made contact with the gun, kicking it out of Gohan's grip as it sailed through the air and hit the wall hard. In front of him, Hatchi kept one leg up in the air as she landed on the floor with the other. Shifting her foot on the carpet, she spun around and swung another kick, this one Gohan blocked with both arms, one catching the brunt of the blow and the other to support it._

_Immediately bringing her leg down, Hatchi snarled as she threw a punch at the young man's face. Easily, Gohan blocked that, and followed it up with another block as the woman threw another fist at him._

_Before she could withdraw either of her arms though, the youth bent his arms down and grabbed onto hers. Twisting his body, he swung Hatchi off the floor and threw her at the same wall his gun at hit. With a loud bang, she hit the sheetrock and fell to the floor in a heap. Unlike her men though, she managed to land on her hands and knees, keeping her body up as she tried to recover herself._

_Gohan kept his eyes on the woman as she used the wall to help herself up. That hit must've dazed her more than he thought it would have. She wasn't even reaching for the gun that was nearby either. Striding over to her, the young man wanted to put her down while she was still trying to get her bearings._

_Apparently she managed to recover them faster than he thought as she slightly turned her head to a side, her eye catching sight of him. With a strained grunt, she tried to back kick him as he came within range, a move that Gohan simply sidestepped and extended his arm to his side. Quickly, he brought his arm down wrapped it around Hatchi's leg, pulling it closer to him and pinning it against his body. With his other hand, he balled into a fist and quickly slammed it into her back. A cry ripped out of the woman's throat as he pounded her kidney again and again, sparing a couple blows into her ribs every few punches. Every hit caused his opponent to spasm from pain as she cried out loudly._

_Then with one last punch, he rammed it into the back of her head, which caused her head to slam into the wall in front of her, dazing her again. Moving his arm to her leg, he made sure he had a good grip on it before he once more twisted his body around and threw her through the air. Again, she flew across the room until she hit the wall on the opposite side. Colliding with it between the windows, she immediately fell to the floor, this time not even moving._

_Staring her down, Gohan soon came to the conclusion she was down for the count. Turning away from her, he bent down to pick up his gun, automatically checking the magazine for bullets—finding a couple more._

_As he shoved the clip back into the gun, he heard movement from the other side of the room. Turning to face it, he found Hatchi had managed to push herself up, but was sitting against the wall. Whatever fight was in her was gone. With heavy breathing, she looked at him through strands of hair that hung in front of her face. "What…what are you?" she spat out._

_Gohan merely stared at her before he turned his body to a side, his head still facing her. Lifting a hand up, he pointed it right at her, a growing warmth appearing in front of his palm. "I…am Death," he answered._

_"The Destroyer of Worlds."_

_Not even a second later, a bright light fired from his hand, obliterating the wall as Hatchi and her screams were consumed._

* * *

**"I am become Death, the Destroyer of Worlds," is quoted from J. Robert Oppenheimer, head researcher of the Manhattan Project.  
**


	20. Chapter 20

**This Chapter is brought to you by ShadowMajin and SilviaS7**

_Gohan almost hiccuped, his throat in pain from bouts of screeching and crying. He was trying _not_ to cry at the moment, because the man standing over by the table across the room from him had told him to quit crying or he would kill him. And while five year old Gohan had little idea as to what exactly was going on, he understood the threat of death._

_"No, he hasn't arrived yet, but be ready," the tall angry man said into the phone he held up to his right ear. His long black hair swayed, hanging almost down to his knees as he bent over the table. "I'll upload the Tree once he gets here, but you've got to do the verification," he continued, and Gohan sniffed to keep his nose from running any more than it was. "The database, you idiot!" the man screamed into his phone, gritting his teeth in frustration. "You have to mount the database to the servers on your side to make sure it's legitimate."_

_The screaming, though not directed at him, pushed Gohan over the edge again. With a slight stutter at the beginning, he started crying once again, his screams filling the room as tears fell freely once more. The tall scary man growled into his phone as he turned to look at Gohan. "No, it's the damn kid again," he said, glaring at Gohan. "No, I'll call you back when it's time," he said, hanging up the phone and slamming it down on the table beside him with a loud bang._

_Something fell in the distance and the noise surprised both Gohan and his captor. The man reached into the back of his coat and swiftly pulled out a gun. Gohan stopped crying for just a moment, before he continued wailing at the top of his lungs once more—the man with the gun grimacing at the sound as if he felt a headache coming on._

_"_Shut up!_" the man screamed, and Gohan blinked in shock as he stopped crying. The man took a few steps toward Gohan, stopping a few feet away. "I don't care who your father is kid, I'll put a bullet in your brain if you don't shut your mouth," he said, pointing his weapon at Gohan threateningly._

_Gohan shook where he sat on the floor. How did this happen? The last thing he remembered, his mommy had put him to bed. The next thing he knew, this scary man had taken him away from home to... wherever they were now. Gohan hiccuped as thoughts of his mommy made him want to cry all over again. He tried to hold it back, but after a few seconds the sobs came forward once more._

_The man with the gun clenched his teeth and growled. With his free hand, he reached down and slapped Gohan across the face. The child fell backward, and immediately started screaming from the pain of the strike._

_"I said stop it, you sorry excuse for a runt!" the man roared as he took his gun and shoved it into the boy's forehead. "One more sound and I'll make sure you never make another sound again!"_

"Gohan!" Videl's voice pierced through the fog his mind had fallen into. The young man focused his mind on what was around him, finding that his backside seemed to be pressed against a table as his hands were pressed onto the sides of his head. He took note of how clammy his skin felt. His body was slightly hunched over, most likely cringing from the throbbing in his head.

"Are you alright?" he heard Videl ask him, causing him to slowly draw his hands down his face. Next to him, the dark-haired woman was standing next to him, looking at him worriedly.

"I…I think so," the young man managed to say, placing his palms on the table behind him.

"You think so? You look like crap!" Videl exclaimed angrily. "You look just like that time at the motel. Worse even!"

"She's right, you don't look well," Flappe chimed in. He standing a few feet away, clearly unsure if he should be worried about this.

"Don't worry, I just—" Gohan began to say before his head was suddenly assaulted with another sharp wave of pain.

_Gohan was on his feet. Before him, Piccolo was leaning down, picking up his gun. Videl was still between the beds, scrambling to the small bedside table and reaching up to grab the lamp that rested on it. With his sights firmly on the black-covered assassin, the young man took long steps, closing the distance between him and his foe._

_The moment Piccolo had straightened out his body, Gohan threw a fist that slammed into the side of the man's head. Stunned, the assassin was unguarded as the dark-haired youth jab a punch at his closest kidney, causing him to let out a cry of pain. With his other hand, Gohan extended it to grab Piccolo's wrist, making sure to hold it out so that the gun couldn't be turned on him. Taking a step back, he then brought his other hand and rammed it into the green man's upper arm, forcing the arm to hyperextend and Piccolo to cry out louder._

_Due to the hyperextension, the assassin lost his hold on the gun and dropped it to the floor. While Gohan considered that a good thing, barely a moment went by before Piccolo shot up his other hand and aimed it right at the young man's face. Instantly, the palm was glowing brightly, causing Gohan's eyes to widen before he jerked his head to a side. It was just in time as a beam of light fired from the hand and flew into the wall, burning a hole through it._

_Unfortunately, due to dodging the attack, Gohan had to release his hold on Piccolo's wrist. Immediately, the green man bent his arm and jerked it back, nailing the youth in the face with his elbow. Grunting from the blow, Gohan stumbled backwards. With a growl, Piccolo launched an attack, throwing several quick strikes at the young man. Fortunately, Gohan recovered enough to begin blocking the punches, throwing high and low blocks as fast as he could._

_That was when Piccolo thrust out one of his hands, once more showing a glowing palm. Again, Gohan dodged to a side as a light beam was fired, the young man feeling the heat radiating off the blast as it flew by him. Turning his left foot in, Gohan spun around as he allowed his momentum to keep him moving towards Piccolo's side. Extending an arm, he balled up his hand and swung a backhand blow at the back of the assassin's head._

_Piccolo ducked under the blow, which left Gohan's fist to fly harmlessly through the air. However, the young man wasn't surprised by the move. Taking a page out of his opponent's book, the youth thrust out his other hand, his palm glowing just as Piccolo's previously. Although his head was covered with a black ski mask, the green man's dark eyes widened at the sight._

_However, unlike the youth's dodges, Piccolo's form seemed to blur before shooting off to Gohan's left, just as his light beam fired from his hand. With wide eyes, Gohan jerked his head to a side, trying to keep up with the blurred shape of his opponent. Swinging his arm out, he tried firing another light blast, this one missing his moving target as well._

_Face twisting with frustration, Gohan continued jerking his head and arm repeating, always coming to a stop and firing a light beam before moving to fire another blast. Again and again, his attacks flew harmlessly into walls, leaving burnt holes in their wake._

_The next thing he knew, Piccolo was crouched in front of him. When he had appeared there, the youth didn't know; one moment he hadn't been there, the next he was. With a balled-up fist, the assassin slammed it into Gohan's chest, sending him flying off his feet, his arms flailing in front of him as he flew through the air._

_With a loud bang, Gohan's back collided with the wall behind him, gravity causing the young man to fall to the floor. He managed to land on his feet, but he gasped audibly due to losing his breath from the crash. Cringing, he tilted forward slightly as he tried to overcome the pain running through his back and chest. It was only due to instinct that he felt Piccolo's presence in front of him, giving him the opportunity jerk his head up and act._

_Throwing his arms up, he blocked a punch to his left with his left arm, his right being used as support to absorb the blow. Gohan then immediately threw his right arm up and used his left as support as he blocked a blow from his right. His arms then went straight down as his hands caught Piccolo's raised knee as he tried to ram it in the youth's stomach._

_Instinctively, the young man shifted to his right, angling his body towards Piccolo's. Bending his right arm, he forced it up, his elbow connecting with the green man's chin and forcing his head to snap back. As he brought his right arm down, Gohan swung up an uppercut with his other fist, connecting with Piccolo's chin just as the man's head was swinging back down. The blow sent the assassin flying off his feet and across the room, his body crashing head on into one of the beds. The frame broke and fractured loudly as wood snapped and metal bended._

_Immediately, Gohan began walking towards the left and away from the wall behind him, circling around his opponent. Vaguely, he noticed Videl scrambling away from the beds, heading towards the door, or so he thought. She was of little importance as Piccolo groaned before pushing himself off the floor. Using the remaining bed next to him, the green man steadied himself as he stood up, a growl coming from his throat as he looked at the youth._

_Neither one said a word, merely content at staring each other down. That came to an end as Piccolo angled his body towards the bed, reaching a hand beneath its frame and pressing his other hand on top of it. With a yell, the assassin heaved the bed off the floor, twisting his body to a side as he threw it at Gohan._

_Immediately, Gohan dove to a side, rolling on the floor as the bed flew over him and crashed into the corner of the room, crumbling into a pile of ripped cloth, broken springs, and splintered wood. As he got back onto his feet, remaining in crouched position, the young man's eyes widened as he found no sight of Piccolo._

_Before he could begin to process how screwed he was, alarm bells went off in his head. To his left, a presence suddenly appeared, which increased the sense of urgency in his head. Instantly, Gohan swung his left arm up as he turned, blocking a kick that Piccolo had aimed at his head. Without hesitation, the young man swung up his right fist, landing the blow on the side of the assassin's knee._

_A loud cry rang out from Piccolo as an audible crunch came from his joint. Dropping his leg to the floor, the assassin tried to re-establish his balance, though his injured leg made this much more difficult. Taking advantage of this, Gohan got up on his feet and closed the distance between them. With his right fist, he slammed it into the green man's face—once, twice._

_Weakly, Piccolo tried to counterattack as he threw his own fist. Instead, Gohan moved to a side before grabbing the man's wrist. With his other hand, he reached out and grabbed the assassin's shirt at the chest. As he twisted his body, the young man pulled Piccolo's arm further back, his other hand moving up as the green man's body was lifted off the floor._

_With a loud war cry, Gohan threw Piccolo through the air, the man crashing into the broken mess of the bed. Immediately, the young man adjusted his body into a defensive stance, just waiting for his foe to get back up and continue the fight. The blood pumping through the arteries in his ears pounded his ear drums. His chest expanded and contracted with every heavy breath he took. As the seconds ticked by, the realization that Piccolo wasn't getting back up became apparent._

_Slowly, the young man began to calm down as the pounding in his ears began to die down and his breathing gradually calmed. His posture began to relax as his arms hung at his sides. Tranquility began to fill him as he closed his eyes._

When his eyes opened again, Gohan found he was sitting on the floor. Kneeling in front of him was Videl, who had her hands grasping onto his shoulders. "Easy," she was saying as if to calm him down. He had to admit, the sound of her voice was soothing. "Take it easy. We've called for a doctor. He should be here soon."

"I need a doctor?" Gohan asked through a fog of confusion that had settled on his mind.

"Yes, yes you do," Videl answered. "So stay calm, everything will be—"

_"Not good enough."_

_Gohan didn't reply as sweat dripped down his face. The concrete walls, ceiling, and floor were naked aside from a metal door in one of the corners. Before the young man stood a taller, stronger man with wild spiky hair. A stern expression was on Goku's face as he held a relaxed posture, his arms hanging at his sides._

_"Again," he commanded._

_Immediately, Gohan lunged at him, swinging a punch at his head. Goku blocked it easily, which caused the young teen to throw another jab at his face. Again, it was blocked. Before Gohan could make another strike, Goku lashed out his raised arms, the palms of his hands hitting the boy's chest and pushing him back._

_"Still not good enough."_

_Gohan's face remained blank before he closed the distance once more, this time throwing an uppercut with his left fist. Goku parried it to a side, which Gohan threw another one with his right in response. Again, blocked, but this time the young man bent his arm and jumped at his opponent, aiming to ram his elbow in the man's face. Goku jerked backwards, leaving the blow to sail harmlessly through the air._

_With another leap, Gohan sent a diving kick at his trainer; however Goku caught his leg, one hand grabbing his ankle and the other further up his calf. With a twist, Goku threw off the teen's balance and sent him spinning around in the air before he crashed on the cement floor._

_"Better, but you left yourself wide open at the end."_

_Goku's words were impersonal, but then again that's how he always was. A second barely passed by before Gohan pushed himself off the ground and stood before the man blankly. Goku merely stared back at him, assessing the moment until he said, "Pay attention to what I do."_

_Gohan wasn't sure when his trainer had moved, but the next thing he knew Goku was right in front of him, throwing a fist right at his face. Instantly, he moved an arm to block the blow. That was when pain exploded in his stomach as his foe slammed a fist in his guts. Time slowed down as Gohan began bending forward from the blow, a groan of pain erupting from his lips._

_Goku swiftly withdrew his fist, then just as quickly rammed it back into the teen's stomach, only this time it felt as if the force behind the strike had skyrocketed. A louder cry tore out of the youth's mouth as he was sent flying off the floor. A moment later, Gohan crashed to the ground, stars exploding before his eyes as the back of his head slammed hard on the cement._

_Due to the pain screaming in his head, Gohan was unable to figure out what was going on around him. Eyes shut tightly, he bared his teeth to hold back any further display of weakness. He was barely even aware of footsteps approaching him, but he had no idea where they were coming from._

_And then his trainer began speaking. "You have to do better." Despite the throbbing, Gohan immediately focused on the words. He wasn't sure how or why he did so, but he did. "You must be stronger, faster, unpredictable. Your enemies won't stop until you're dead, so you must use your strength to crush them and do it quickly. The most powerful force on Earth is death and that is what you must become—a destroyer that brings ruin to all worlds beneath Heaven and above Hell."_

_Slowly the pain was dying down and Gohan became aware of someone kneeling down next to him. Cracking open his eyes, he saw Goku's solemn face staring down on him. "And we will make you that fighter. Now get up. We still have work to do."_

"I've never seen anything like this."

Those words brought Gohan back to the present. Flappe was over by the staircase, looking towards the youth with a frown on his face. Videl was still kneeling in front of him, but her head was turned to the doctor. Although he couldn't see her face, the young man was pretty sure she was scowling.

"Then what use are you? I thought you were some sort of doctor."

"I'm a scientist, not a MD," Flappe protested snippily. "I don't have medical training."

"Oh, so you'll come up with experimental brainwashing techniques, but you won't even bother learning CPR?" Videl deadpanned. "You have some messed up priorities."

"They are not experimental! I'll have you know that they do work when administered properly!"

"Then what use are you?" Videl seemed to grumble about something, but whatever it was, Gohan didn't hear it. Another voice had spoken up.

_"Let him go, Raditz!"_

_Gohan's cries quieted somewhat when he heard that voice ring out in the room. It wasn't the man who just hit him, but it was vaguely familiar. Who was it?_

_Raditz smirked to himself as he turned toward the direction the boy thought the sound came from. He was confident he knew exactly where the source of the voice came from. "I don't think so, Brother," Raditz said as he took a few slow steps toward one end of the room. "Not until you give us what we've asked for."_

_The man stopped to listen, but didn't hear anything. It was that moment when Gohan couldn't hold back his tears and started crying again. Raditz turned to look at him, and a moment later gunshots rang out. The long-haired man ran to his right immediately, his face turning towards a low cinderblock wall. Raditz raised his gun and returned fire as he ran and knelt down behind a few crates next to the far right wall. He sucked in a breath with a hiss as he looked to his left arm to see that a bullet had grazed it._

_To say that a five year old child was scared out of his mind would be an understatement. Gohan stared in horror as his daddy knelt behind the wall. Goku gripped his left hand in his right as it bled. He must have been hurt when Gohan's kidnapper fired upon him. "Daddy!" Gohan screamed, the sight of the blood triggering something within him. A foreign feeling that felt as if... as if it belonged._

_Both men glanced over to the boy as the room started to shake. Gohan continued to scream, and a glowing sphere enveloped him. "What...?!" Raditz said in shock as the room lit up like daylight, and Gohan himself was the sun. The man stood up from behind the crate where he had taken cover, trying to get a better look at the child. His gun lowered unconsciously as he stared._

_With another blood curdling scream, Gohan flew across the room, directly at Raditz. Gohan's kidnapper could do nothing in response, but stare in confusion as a child literally flew at him. Gohan's head slammed into Raditz's abdomen, and the force was so great that it pushed the long-haired man back several meters into the cinderblock wall of the basement, bursting through the bricks. His gun went flying, and Gohan immediately dropped to the ground, the light around him fading away._

_A dreadful silence filled the room for several moments before a scrambling of footsteps broke it. "Gohan!" a voice cried out upon a nearing the boy's body. Gohan wasn't sure who it was as he laid on hisstomach. _

_The boy's head was hurting and making him see these very bright stars. Why was his head hurting? And why was he lying on the cold, hard floor? It wasn't until he felt a strong, rough, and familiar hand touch him that he realized the person was his father. "Daddy?"_

_"It's me, Gohan, it's me," he heard his father's voice calmly say. Gohan felt himself being lifted off the floor and held against Goku's strong chest. It was comforting. "Everything is going to be okay."_

_Gohan nestled into his father, burying his head as far as it could go. "I... I want to go home."_

_"We're going, we're going." And yet, they weren't moving, not that Gohan cared though. His daddy was here and that alone made everything better._

_It was a short while before Goku began moving. Through cracked eyelids, Gohan watched from the corner of his eye as the room shifted about them due to his father turning. That movement caused the boy to catch sight of his kidnapper for a brief moment. The man's body was nearly embedded into the broken wall of the basement. The impact cracked the cinderblocks around those that had crumbled, and the cracks spanned five or six feet on their own; Raditz's eyes had also completely rolled to the back of his head, showing only the whites of his eyeballs. Trickles of blood emerged from the man's head and made their way down his face. In contrast, his entire neck and shoulders looked as if they were bathed in red. The very sight made Gohan cringe and bury himself deeper into his father._

_Had Daddy done that? It was... scary... yet comforting that Daddy would do anything to protect him._

_"Don't worry, Gohan," he heard his father say, the rumblings from his voice vibrating in his chest and against the boy's face. "Everything is alright. We're going home."_

They hadn't gone home though, not the home that he remembered. Goku had said his mother had an accident and they were staying somewhere else that night. Gohan had cried for the rest of the night after finding that out... That one moment had changed his entire life.

Despite how traumatic that kidnapping had been, Gohan had forgotten it over the years. It was as if it had been a bad dream rather than a real event. And considering what he was learning about his father, the young man had an inkling that perhaps Goku had a hand in making him forget it. That this brainwashing project of Flappe's was heavily involved not only with him forgetting the kidnapping, but all those blank spots in his memory.

Blank spots that his father had been using to train him.

The throbbing in his head came to an abrupt stop, disappearing in an instant. Gohan's eyes were open, staring out across the room. Well, they would have been had Videl's small form not been in his way. Taking a few deep breaths, he tried to calm the rampant beating of his heart, and thus slowing down the effects it was causing on his body. A thought in the back of his head recalled a few moments where Goku had spoken of pacifying one's body in the event it was hurt or ill.

Bringing his legs to him, Gohan moved them underneath him so he could stand. The action caught Videl off guard as she whipped her head to stare at him. "Gohan? What are you doing?"

"I'm alright," he said with conviction as he began to stand. His balance was off though, so he immediately reached out with his hand and grabbed the table to help stabilize him.

"I can see that," Videl replied dryly. It was pretty obvious she didn't believe a word he said. "I still say you should see a doctor."

Gohan ignored her as he twisted his body away from her, raising his other hand and pressing down on the table with his other. As soon as he stood up, a dizzy spell hit him, making the young man lean forward as he fought off the lightheadedness. With his eyes closed, the youth waited until he felt better.

Once he felt the dizziness dissipate, Gohan opened his eyes. That was when he noticed several small television screens, each monitor lit up with black and white images. One of them Gohan recognized as the front door, reminding him of that security camera from the porch. That made the young man frown. Why would someone install camera, but put all the equipment in the basement where they wouldn't see it unless they had work to do down here? There had to be a much better place for such stuff.

Glance to each screen, he took note of where Flappe had installed each camera, even one that was staring down on the street in front of his house. There was a car parked on the other side of the street in the image, cattycorner to the one he and Videl had arrived in.

Yet, Gohan felt an alarm go off in his head. Staring at the car on the screen, he couldn't help but note that it was of an expensive brand. Considering the neighborhood Flappe lived in, the car stuck out like a sore thumb.

Pushing off the table, Gohan strided towards the staircase and mounted the steps, ignoring Videl and Flappe completely. "Hey, where are you going?" the woman demanded as he heard her footsteps chasing after him.

"What's he doing?" Flappe asked bewilderedly. Gohan didn't bother listening to what the answer to that question would be. If there was one though, it was drowned out by the clomping made by Videl and the doctor as they followed the young man up the stairs. Once he reached the top, Gohan hurried towards the front door. Spying a window covered with a curtain near it, he altered his course to it and stood next to it.

Reaching up, he moved the curtain back and peeked through the window. Although a bit dirty, he could see right across the street to that expensive car. However, there was now a man standing by it in between the vehicle and the house. From what Gohan could make of him, the man was short and dressed in a suit that was the same color as the dark hair that rose flame-like from his head. That was all he could make of the man.

Leisurely, he took a couple steps away from his car until he stood right in the middle of the street. For a moment, it seemed like he was content with just standing there until he raised up one of his hands and pointed it right at the house.

And Gohan knew what that pose meant.

Whipping around, the young man caught sight of Videl by the basement door. As fast as he could, he dashed towards her, wrapping his arms around her waist and lifting her surprised form right off the floor. Teeth gritted, Gohan tried to get towards the back of the house, hoping to find a window or backdoor to escape through.

He only made it a couple steps before everything behind him exploded into flames.


	21. Chapter 21

**This Chapter is brought to you by ShadowMajin**

_This wasn't home. That was the first thought that went through Gohan's head as he stood in front of a house he had never seen before. Why would Daddy bring him here and not home? Was Mommy here too?_

_Gohan clutched his father's leg as he took in the sight of the cement steps leading up to a wooden door. The housefront was made entirely out of dark wood panels with a couple of windows placed at an equal distance on either side of the door. It looked lonely and nothing like what a home was._

_His father's hand then touched his head and gave him a comforting rub. "Here we are, Gohan. Our new home," he said as he too stared at the house._

_Gohan tilted his head up, Daddy's hand still resting on his head. "What about our old home? Where's Mommy?"_

_His father looked down at him and immediately Gohan felt scared. He didn't like the look Daddy was giving him._

_Daddy let out a sigh before he knelt down before the young boy, placing both of his hands on his shoulders. "I'm sorry to tell you this, Gohan, but something… Mommy isn't coming."_

_"What! Why?!" Gohan cried out with alarm._

_"There was… your mom had to go somewhere else. It's very far away and she can't be with us right now. So it's just the two of us for now."_

_Tears welled up before Gohan's eyes as he sniveled. "But I want my mommy."_

_"Hey, don't cry," Daddy said, lifting one of his hands up and wiping away the gathered tears with a finger. "Everything is going to be alright, okay? We have to be strong. Mommy would have wanted it that way."_

_The boy hiccuped as he moved forward, pressing his face into his father's chest. "Okay," he whimpered._

Gohan opened his eyes. Everything around him was dark. There was something heavy on top of him and something soft beneath. For a moment, he was confused until he remembered what had just occurred minutes earlier. He had been running out of Flappe's house, Videl in his arms, when a guy outside of the house blew it up. That meant the soft thing under him had to be Videl and the heavy thing was what was left of the house.

The young man's first instinct was to get out of there, but that was quickly crushed. There was no telling if that man was still up there. He could still remember the sight of the man who had done this. The dark suit, the hair, the way he carried himself—he was a man that didn't care for appearance, that was for sure. He wasn't afraid of making spectacles in order to get his job done. Piccolo and Hatchi had at least tried to limit the publicity of their attacks unless there was no other option. This did not bode well.

It was awhile before he began picking out faint noises. If he wasn't mistaken, they sounded like people. More than one person meant that people in the neighborhood were close by, which could mean the assassin had left. Taking that as a good sign, he began pushing up, trying to move whatever was on top of him.

At first nothing happened. Relaxing himself, Gohan then pushed up again, harder this time. That time it felt like something shifted. Steeling his face, the young man began to repeatedly relax and slam his body up. It took several of those blows, but ultimately the piece of house on top of him was pushed off and landed off to a side with a loud crash, letting in a flood of cool, fresh air.

Immediately, Gohan closed his eyes due to the sudden glare of the sun. The light was too bright and for several moments, the young man stood there, slowly opening and closing his eyes until they were adjusted. Once they were, he began looking around him.

The house was nothing more than a pile of debris. Pieces of wood, sheetrock, and aluminum littered the neighborhood, though most of it was concentrated in the hole that once had been the basement. The front and backyards were barely visible due to the wreckage and bystanders staring at the mess. There were a few people digging through the mess, looking for survivors, though nothing seemed forthcoming.

Gohan found himself standing somewhere that used to be the backyard. A quick look to his person showed he had clearly seen better days, but at most he had scratches on his skin and dirty clothes.

Shaking his head to clear it, Gohan glanced around him to make sure there were no other threats around. He did not need to be attacked so suddenly after just surviving an explosion. Seeing that nothing hostile was eminent, the dark-haired youth looked down to Videl to make sure she was alright and grimaced.

Below him, the young woman had gathered herself into the fetal position, her face twisted in pain and eyes shut tight. There was a small pool of blood gathering beneath her, but due to her being on her side, Gohan couldn't tell what the source of it was.

Cautiously, the young man touched the dark-haired woman's shoulder, receiving a whimper in return. Faintly, Gohan could hear people calling out to him, but he was completely focused on Videl. Slowly, he began moving around her until he was facing her back. Lowering himself towards her, he moved one of his hands to her skyward shoulder and the other towards her legs. "Videl," he said softly to her ear. "I need to move you."

Gohan wasn't sure if she heard him or not since she didn't give a response. Doing his best to not cause her additional pain, he nudged her shoulder towards him, causing her body to turn towards him. A weak cry tore from her lips as her back touched the ground, something that made Gohan wince. Though he didn't like hearing her moan, he at least had a better look at her injury, finding a large shard of glass protruding from her abdomen.

Gohan wasn't a doctor by any stretch, but he knew that was not a good thing. He also knew that if he tried to remove it, he could cause more damage than simply leaving it in. Regardless, Videl needed medical attention or she was going to die.

Steeling his features, Gohan forced his hands and arms underneath the woman's body—one beneath her back and the other below her knees—and lifted her off the ground. Another pain-wracked gasp came from Videl, but this time the young man ignored her. Standing on his feet, he turned towards the street and began walking towards it, finding several people staring at him from the sidewalk and a couple of middle-aged men stumbling through the wreckage as they tried to get to him.

"Hey man, are you alright?" the closest one called out to him. Gohan merely ignored him as he marched over the broken pieces of wood and sheetrock. "Hey! Can you hear…" the man tried again, trailing off this time. He must've seen Videl in his arms and the large bloodstain on her shirt. "Oh Lord, she needs help."

_Yeah, no kidding._ Reaching the street, Gohan headed for Videl's car, which was beat to hell from piece of debris. There were even clumps of bricks lying on top of the vehicle. Knowing his luck, the car wouldn't be operational, which was not what he needed at the moment. Paying them no mind, Gohan walked around the car and reached the rear driver's side door. However, before he could even think of how to open it, one of the bystanders immediately appeared next to him and opened the door for him. Nodding his head in thanks, he maneuvered himself to fit Videl on the back seat, all the while hearing her hiss of pain. Once he had her down, he rummaged a hand in her pockets one at a time until he found the car keys.

As he leaned out of the car, the young man paused as he stared down on Videl's frail form. "Don't worry, Videl," he said in his most reassuring voice. "I'm getting you help, so just hang on a little longer."

Closing the door, Gohan moved to the driver's door and opened it. Before he could climb into the seat though, a voice in the house wreckage shouted out "We found someone!" A small silence followed before "I… I don't think he made it."

Gohan closed his eyes for a moment. Flappe was dead. Just great. Opening his eyelids, determination shown from his eyes. He wasn't going to let there be two victims this day. Sitting down in the driver's seat, he slammed the door behind him and stuck the car key into the ignition. With a turn, the engine roared to life, relieving the young man. That was one thing helping him out.

As the sound of sirens wailed in the distance, Gohan put the car into drive and hit the gas pedal.

* * *

"Excuse me, young man. Are you the one that brought in that woman with the glass?"

Gohan looked up from the tiled floor and at a rather tall, older man. The man was groomed from his combed white hair to his bushy white mustache. The white coat hanging over his dress shirt and pants signified he was a doctor, though what his name was the dark-haired youth didn't know since he couldn't see a name tag. "Yes, I am," he answered.

The doctor held out a clipboard in front of him and read what was on it through his eyeglasses. "It was a good thing you got her here when you did. Any later and she would have bled out. The glass didn't puncture any organs, so that was fortunate. We're expecting a full recovery."

A weight lifted from Gohan's shoulders. Considering everything that had happened to him so far, he had half expected Videl to die as well. It didn't really help that he had been in a hospital lobby filled with other hurt patients. "Thank you. Thank you very much."

The doctor gave him a kind smile. "You're welcome. Just make sure she gets plenty of rest. It's advisable she doesn't do any strenuous exercise for the time being."

"Yes, of course. When can she leave?"

"It would be best if she stayed here for a few days. We'd like to keep her here for observation."

Gohan nodded his head. "Okay, whatever you think is best."

The doctor turned his attention to the clipboard and pulled out a pen. A scratching sound was made as he wrote something down on the form there. When he raised his head, he asked "May I ask what your relationship is to the young woman?"

Gohan blinked his eyes owlishly at that. "What do you need that for?"

"For our records," the older man answered. "This is her first visit to Orange Star Hospital, so we don't have any information on her. No prior medical history or emergency contacts and the like."

"Oh, I see. Umm, I'm a—"

A loud, screeching wail rang out in the room, causing Gohan to stop what he was saying to search for the source and finding a little baby. Staring at it distractedly, the young man heard the doctor ask something, to which he replied "Yeah, sure."

"Alright, so if you would just write down your name and the best way to contact you, we'll update her record." Glancing back, Gohan found the doctor holding out the clipboard and pen. Taking the items, the youth stared at the form on the clipboard, finding several lines with writing above them, small boxes with words next to them—most of the boxes being blank while a few had X's marked through them. Towards the bottom there were two blank lines under a subheading EMERGENCY CONTACT. Gohan quickly wrote down his name and a phone number, a part of him wondering where his cell phone was currently. He was gonna have to get it replaced eventually.

As he handed back the clipboard and pen, the doctor said "Thank you very much. If you would like to see your girlfriend, she's in Room #194. She's being medicated at the moment, so I can't guarantee you that she'll be awake."

And with that, the doctor walked off, leaving Gohan to stare after him. _Girlfriend? Where did he get that impression?_ Shaking his head, the young man began making his way out of the lobby and into the hospital hallways. The least he could do is check up on Videl before he left.

It wasn't long before the dark-haired youth found himself standing in the doorway of Videl's room. It was a plain room with a bed, table, chair, and various medical equipment. Videl was lying on the bed, buried in a thick blanket. You wouldn't be able to tell she was wearing a hospital gown if it weren't for her arms being on top of the comforter. There was a paper wristband around her wrist to identify her.

Slowly, he began approaching her, the steady beeps of the heart monitor filling his ears. The closer he got, the more of her he saw, such as the oxygen tube feeding her air into her nose. Her eyes were closed, so he assumed she was asleep. That thought was dispelled when her face frowned and she made a groaning sound.

Weakly, her eyes opened, though they remained in a squint. Videl seemed disoriented for a moment, completely lost as to where she was until she found Gohan standing a few feet away. She tried to say something, but mumbled sounds were the only thing that came out.

Glancing to the chair, and finding it next to the bed, Gohan took a seat in it and stared at Videl as she craned her head to keep looking at him. "Don't worry, you're in a safe place," he said soothingly, trying to placate the woman.

"Wha… what happened?" she finally managed to say.

"We were attacked," Gohan replied simply. "Flappe's dead and the only thing left of his house is a crater. We were lucky enough to be blown out a window, but you ended up having a large piece of glass in your stomach."

"Is that why… I hurt?" Videl said weakly. Turning her head to look towards the roof, she added "I feel like crap."

"It could be the painkillers. The doctor said they were doping you."

Videl merely grunted at that. "Generics. Too cheap for… morphine."

The young man gave a wry smile. This was a bit awkward for him. It wasn't often he visited a person in a hospital, much less someone he hardly knew, so he had no idea how one was supposed to act in this kind of situation. Feeling it would be best to make his exit, he pushed himself up and turned to leave.

"Where are you going?"

Gohan came to a stop and looked over his shoulder. He found the dark-haired woman looking at him, her eyelids higher than they had been previously. "There's work that needs to be done."

Videl seemed to know what he was talking about instantly. "No… you can't. She winced as she tried to sit up, giving up a few moments later as she figured out she wouldn't be getting up. "It's too dangerous. Not on your own."

The young man shook his head in the negative. "No choice. You're hurt and can't move. And we can't just sit here until you're better."

"But you'll be killed!" Videl's voice was stronger, but fortunately not loud enough for the people in the hall to hear.

Gohan diverted his eyes. He was silent for a moment before he said "No, I don't think so."

"You don't know these people like I do. They're not going to let you just stroll up to them and talk. They want your head!"

"You're right, talking is useless." Looking back at the young woman, Gohan could see his comment caught her off guard. "This is going to end, one way or another."

Videl's eyes were their widest yet. "You're… you're going after them," she said softly as realization dawned on her. Then a desperate look appeared on his face. "No, you can't! Not alone!"

"Can't be helped. You need to get your rest now." Gohan was very tempted to walk out of that room right then and there. However, as he stared at Videl, a thought entered his head. Since this might be the last chance he'd get, there was no point in ignoring it. Fully facing the young woman, Gohan strode over to her, Videl tilting her head up to follow him. Once he stood over her, be bent down and kissed her. It only lasted for a second—or longer, he wasn't keeping count—and Videl didn't respond. Once he had his fill, Gohan pulled away and looked at the girl, seeing her staring at him stunned, probably the reason why she hadn't responded. "Goodbye, Videl," he whispered softly to her before straightening out his posture and turning to walk away.

"Please, don't leave," he heard Videl say—no beg behind him. There was a touch of desperation in her voice, not something he was used to hearing. "You don't have to do this. Don't go, _please._"

Gohan didn't give her a reply, just simply moved his legs forwards as he made his way out of the room.

The desperation disappeared from Videl's voice then, being replaced by something the young man couldn't quite describe. "I'll find you."

That made Gohan stop once more. Again, he looked over his shoulder and towards Videl, taking in the sight of her for the last time. "A part of me hopes you do."

And with that, he left the room. Behind him, he continued to her Videl shout at him, her voice growing louder with every word. "I'll find you, you hear me? I'll find you!"


	22. Chapter 22

**This chapter is brought to you by ShadowMajin**

_Goku hit the floor hard. The older man appeared stunned as he laid on his back, looking up at Gohan in astonishment._

_The younger man stood over him, staring with a look of had been sparring, a best-in-five-falls fight. This latest fall had ended the third match in the youth's favor._

_Just like the previous two..._

_Patiently, the dark-haired youth waited for his teacher to get back to his feet. And while it wasn't an unusual occurrence that he knocked the man down, never had it been a clean sweep like this with such regularity. Goku had always managed to win at least a match, if not the set outright, yet the last couple of times Gohan had taken him down without once losing a match._

_"I believe your training is complete," Goku said as a smile appeared on his face. This was also a first as the older man usually was completely serious, not once taking the time to offer praise or show satisfaction at the young man's progress. Today was proving to be unlike a lot of their previous sessions._

_Turning away from him, Goku walked to a table and began fiddling with something on it. Due to only seeing his mentor's back, Gohan had no idea what it was, not that it mattered._

_As the sounds of clunking and scraping filled the room, the two men remained silent; Gohan waited for his next instructions as Goku was most likely forming them. It wasn't until the older man turned around, his face now stern as usual, that he said "There's just one more thing left to do." If Gohan wasn't mistaken, there was a hint of resignation in the man's voice._

_However, before Goku could explain what was next, a loud beeping cut through the room. Frowning, Goku turned around back to the table and stared at something. Gohan could only imagine the what was going on through his teacher's head before he said "And we're out of time. We'll continue this later. First we need to get you to your graduation ceremony."_

_Gohan nodded his head. He wasn't sure what this ceremony was, but if he was supposed to attend it, then so be it._

_"Go to your bed, Gohan. Lie down and close your eyes. I'll be there in a moment," Goku instructed, just like he always did at the end of their sessions. Automatically, the young man turned and left the room. Passing through the doorway, he immediately ascended the staircase that lay beyond it. Soon, he was back in the house, entering it through an open trapdoor in the floor. Next to the square opening was a table draped with a cloth table-covering. Ignoring it, Gohan continued on to his room, weaving through the other rooms and hallways before at last entering a decorated and furnished bedroom. Approaching the bed, he laid on top of it and placed his hands on top of his chest, his fingers entwining together. Closing his eyes, he waited for his mentor to come, just as he had said he would._

When he opened his eyes again, Gohan found the room of his hotel looming over him. Blinking his eyelids, he cleared his slightly blurred vision before pushing himself up to sit on the mattress.

After leaving Videl at the hospital, he had returned to their hotel—why waste such a nice place that he wasn't even paying for? However, he hadn't been able to make much progress since arriving and had taken a nap. But unfortunately, it had only raised more questions for him.

His High School Graduation had been the last day he remembered having a blank spot in his mind. He had gone to bed the previous night only to be awoken an hour before the ceremony by his father. The lost time had been disturbing, but he had brushed it off like he had with his previous blank spots. Funnily, that was the last time that had happened as he had left for college a week later. In fact, he hadn't seen Goku at all during that week as he had spent it with a couple friends.

Considering everything he had learned about this 'Project Dormancy', Gohan could only think of one thing that Goku could have been talking about in this memory. Flappe had mentioned a trigger was needed, some sort of stimuli that would activate his sleeper agent self. Goku never had the chance to install that stimulus since the two of them hadn't spent any real length of time together since that graduation day. They had had the occasional lunch here and there, but Gohan hadn't been to the man's house until after his death.

And yet, despite the lack of completion of the sleeper agent training, the youth had still managed to access the skills. Each time had occurred when he had been in bad situations. No, not bad situations—if that were the case, then Gohan could think of several times where the training should have kicked in but didn't. No, it had to be specific events, such as when Hatchi and Piccolo had him cornered. Both of them involved the threat of imminent death and all the stress that was involved with such. Was it possible that he had formed his own stimuli in the absence of Goku's? That the stimulus itself was the moment he was staring death in the face and survival instinct kicked in? It was a possibility and a theory he was just gonna have to stick with since Flappe wasn't around to confirm or deny anything.

Gohan sighed. That train of thought had run its course and wasn't going to take him any further in his investigation. All he knew for sure was that there was some shadowy organization out there that wanted him dead and they had just taken off the kid gloves. Playtime was over, he needed to find them first before they found him and fast.

Unfortunately, he didn't have a lead to investigate. Nothing to point in any direction whatsoever, even if it was a wrong one.

That was not a good thing.

Grimacing, Gohan began tilting his head from side to side, hearing the cracks of his vertebrae as they realigned. It was then that his eyes fell upon the garbage bag, the one he had stuffed full of the things he had found at his Father's house and then with Goten's at the NAIE hotel.

Both Goku and Goten had worked for this organization—that was a fact. Was it possible they had some information he could use? Staring at the bag, the young man eventually swung his legs off the mattress, stood up, and walked over to it. Grabbing the trash bag and dragging it to the foot of the bed. Gohan took a seat and began reaching in and pulling out the various things he had put in it. The passports, the money, the file on Ox-King—he pulled them all out and placed them on the bed mattress.

Next, he pulled out a white envelope, the one that he had found in Goten's luggage. Gohan paused to look at it as he held in in front of him. Turning it back and forth, he found no writing on the envelope itself. Opening it, he found the same bits of paper as he had the first time he had opened it.

However, Gohan found it odd that his brother would have this with him. What was the point of carrying around bits of paper? Holding one of the pieces, he stared at it for a moment before turning it around to see what was on the back.

Letters stared back at the young man the moment he had done that. Gazing at it, Gohan slowly lowered it to the bed, laying it down letter-side up. Pulling out a couple more pieces, he soon found there were also letters on them. Immediately, Gohan moved off the bed to kneel in front of it, and proceeded to dump the entire contents of the envelope to where he had been sitting.

Tossing the envelope aside, Gohan began rifling through the pieces, setting every piece with any markings on it face up. And any piece that was bare on both sides he pushed away—they were useless at the moment. Once he had every piece he wanted, the young man began moving them around, trying to see which bits of paper fit together.

It was slow going. In fact, Gohan wasn't sure how much time he spent there trying to piece together what used to be a sheet of paper. Eventually though, he found that he only had half a page and his little puzzle appeared to be missing a large portion. Of the part he did have, he found two lines.

_Sierra, Echo, Charlie, Uniform, Romeo, India, Tango, India, Echo, Sierra_ formed the top line. Beneath it were the words_ Kilo, Delta, Romeo, India, Victor, Echo. _Unfortunately, none of that made any sense to him. Further research would have to be done.

Standing up, Gohan moved to the small table next to the bed. Opening the drawer, he reached in and pulled out a small pad of paper and a pen, the name of the hotel on the top left hand corner of the pad. Returning to the the foot of the bed, the young man quickly scribbled down the words on the paper scraps. With that done, he tore the top page of the pad off, folded it, and stuffed it into his pocket. Tossing the pad and pen on the bed, Gohan then took a couple steps to the dresser. On top of it was his gun, which he holstered in the waistband of his pants behind him and with that done, he began walking to the door. The moment he opened the door, he found himself staring down the barrel of a gun.

And on the other side of that gun was NAIE Agent Tien Shinhan.

"You're under arrest, Son Gohan," the bald man said, a harsh expression on his face. "Do the smart thing and surrender yourself."

Gohan kept himself still as possible. There was no doubt in his mind this man would shoot him if he so much as resisted. Flicking his eyes from the gun to Tien, he asked, "What's the charge?"

"Fleeing a crime scene, not rendering aid, and murder. I warned you, you should have come in with me. Now you're gonna be locked up for so long, your corpse will have moss growing on it."

"May I say that I'm glad you're still alive?"

After that remark, the gun barrel was soon pressed right onto the young man's forehead, the gun hole digging into the skin. Gohan did his best not to flinch from the action. "Don't be smart with me," Tien growled angrily.

"I wasn't—I really am glad," Gohan replied, keeping his calm. "But you have to understand, I couldn't go in with you. You saw what Piccolo did to that whole room. If a floor of federal agents could be picked apart that fast, there's no way a building of them would stand a chance—especially with the latest assassin."

That made Tien pause for a moment. "You have another one after you?"

"Yeah, and he doesn't care for appearances either. He blew up a house in the middle of a residential district to get me and I have no doubt that he would do the same in a building full of innocent people."

The agent was silent as he considered this. However, he didn't seem to buy that reason as his face resumed its angered appearance. "And you've endangered more innocents. No, your joyride is over Son. I don't care if I have to shoot you here and now, this ends here."

Gohan closed his eyes and sucked in a deep breath, holding it for a moment before letting it out in a rush. "Fine, lead the way."

For a moment, Tien seemed hesitant to that answer. It was like he couldn't believe his ears. Finally he leaned backwards, effectively removing the gun from the dark-haired youth's head. "Raise your hands slowly over your—" he began to say.

Immediately, Gohan shot his hands up, his left palm hitting the base of the gun and pushing it up. Jerking his head to a side, the roar of the gun firing tore into his ear. With his right hand, he shot it towards Tien, grabbing the bald man's throat. Pouring his strength into his arms, Gohan twisted his body as he forced the agent against the doorway, causing the man to let out a pained yell. As he did this, his left hand shot from the gun handle and latched onto Tien's wrist, holding it firmly so that the gun couldn't be turned on him again.

As he released his hold on the agent's neck, Gohan balled his hand into a fist and swung it across his body, punching the back of the gun and causing it to fly out of the man's hand. Jerking his arm back, the dark-haired youth bent it at the elbow and rammed it into the side of Tien's head. Immediately, the young man dropped his arm low so he could grab onto the bald man's collar, all the while flooding his arm with the familiar warmth of ki.

With a loud grunt, Gohan lifted Tien right off the floor, pulling the man's arm down as he arched the agent through the air. Turning his body, the young man allowed gravity to assist him as he slammed Tien onto the floor with a loud crash. Crouching next to him, Gohan rammed his knee into man's chest, putting his weight behind it to hold him down firmly; he also was making sure to keep the agent's hand down as well, pushing it to the floor. The youth was barely aware of the door slowly swinging shut behind him.

However, it seemed Tien wasn't one to give up a fight. Though he was not in a favorable situation—the forced gasps of air confirming that he had the wind knocked out of him—the man fought back. With his right knee, he slammed it into Gohan's back causing the youth to grunt from the blow. Instinctively, he turned his head to look at the offending appendage, only to assist in perfectly timing Tien's next attack as the bald man swung the fist of his free hand and collided it with Gohan's face.

Pushing past the jolt of pain that was raging in his head, Gohan focused on Tien moving to draw his fist back again and launch it at him. Jerking his arm up, the young man blocked the blow and shoved it back to the floor. With the same arm, he shot it to his back, reaching for the handle of his gun and pulling it out. Unfortunately, that brief opening allowed Tien to punch him again, causing spittle to come flying out of his mouth as his head was turned aside.

However, Gohan never let his eyes stray from his opponent's face regardless of the pain. It was something he faintly recalled Goku telling him to do during one of their many sessions. So as Tien brought his fist back to strike him again, the young man was ready as he swung his gun out from behind him and pointed it at the bald man's face. Immediately, Tien froze where he lay, his eyes fixed on the gun.

It was then that Gohan became aware of the heavy pants that were coming from each of them, their chests rising and falling rapidly—the youth could feel Tien's even more so since his knee was on the agent's chest. A few seconds ticked by as the young man regained his calm, and once he had it, he said "That's enough."

"So you're going to shoot a federal officer now?" Tien said as he switched his attention from the gun to Gohan. "That won't help you."

"I don't want to shoot you, but if you make me…" Gohan trailed off—no need to add the threat that would have finished it. "I have bigger fish to fry, namely that organization that wants me dead. You know they're out there too since they blatantly attacked you as well."

The agent continued to stare at him. "And then what?"

"I'm going to put a stop to all of this."

Tien tilted his head back as he said "So you'll do what? Go find these people and kill them? You'll kill everyone in the building just because of one person's orders? That's not the way to go."

"Then what do you suggest?" the young man snapped angrily. "This group has congressmen bought to force through legislation for them. They probably have their own moles in several federal agencies, including yours." Upon seeing Tien about to furiously refute that claim, Gohan added "I ran into an assassin from a rival group. They admitted they had a mole in your agency, so it's not that far-fetched to think the other assassination agencies also have them. Don't you see? I don't have any other option!"

The agent's head rose from the floor, Tien boring his eyes into the dark-haired youth. "You're not a cold-blooded killer."

"I don't want to be," Gohan corrected him. "But this won't end if I just walk up to them and ask nicely. They're not those kind of people. They need to understand that I won't just sit back and let them kill me. They need to know that they can't kill me like my brother and most likely my father too. They need to know that I will bring this vendetta of theirs right to their doorstep."

Tien was silent for a moment, his head slowly lowering to the floor. "And then?"

"And then…" Gohan paused as it let his thoughts and emotions run rampant on him. "And then I'll go, disappear, whatever I have to do. I just want to be left alone. I…I don't want to know anymore of this."

Again there was another silence. "I'm sorry Son, but you can't walk away that easily," Tien responded. "Let's say you get what you want from this organization—what about everyone else? Leave them at the mercy of assassins?"

This time it was Gohan's turn to go quiet. He hadn't thought that far and having it said out loud left a bad taste in his mouth. "What do you want?"

"Come in. You can help put an end to them and all the other assassination organizations."

"You want me to testify? We don't even know where these groups are much less who they are. We have nothing except dead bodies!"

"Then we find them," Tien argued forcefully. "It's as simple as that."

Gohan stared at the agent before looking towards his bed, eyeing the pieces of paper lying on it. Turning back, he said, "I think I have a lead." Giving the bald man a suspicious look, he added, "If I'm going to let you up, I need to know you won't try to arrest me."

"We want the same thing," Tien said. "To put an end to this organization."

"Then here are some terms," Gohan replied. "I'll help you find these people and get something that will stick to them in court. After that I go into hiding. The only time you'll look for me is if you need me for whatever trial comes up. Is that acceptable?"

The agent considered the request before nodding his head. "I accept."

Gohan held his position over Tien, keeping his gun trained on him. Slowly, he rose off of the bald man, releasing his hold on the man's arm, and took a step back, always keeping the gun pointed at his target. Once he stood still, Tien began getting to his feet. He kept a small distance between him and Gohan and also had his eyes on the youth. Once he was on his feet, the two continued the silence that had fallen on them.

It took a while until Gohan felt comfortable that the agent couldn't try anything funny, only lowering the gun when he was certain. His trust was rewarded as Tien held his ground, switching his attention to the young man's face. "So now what?"

"I need to do a search," Gohan said as he moved his gun behind him and placed it back in his waistband. "I found some sort of code and I need to find some way to decipher it."

Tien's head perked up at that. "What's the code?"

Reaching into his pocket, Gohan pulled out the piece of paper and took a step closer to the bald man, handing him the paper. "I found that in my brother's things."

Tien glanced at the page before he replied "These are military letters." This time, it was the dark-haired youth's turn to show interest. "The military always used words for their letters so that they wouldn't mistake it for another—like B and D, C and E, and so on." The agent moved to the dresser and put the paper down on it. With one hand, he reached into his suit jacket, something that made Gohan stiffen; when Tien pulled out a pen, he relaxed.

"So how do you know about this," the young man asked as he saddled up next to the bald man. Watching closely, he saw the agent point the end of the pen at the first letter of each word before writing it above it and repeating.

"I did some military service a long time ago," Tien answered, his focus on the code. When he was done, he held the piece of paper up and read out loud "Securities, K Drive."

Gohan looked closer at the paper eagerly. "Securities, this must be the group."

Tien turned his head with a raised eyebrow. "How can you be sure of that?"

"Ox-King told me about a bill called Malone-Engvall. When I read it, I found a section that specifically mentioned money going to some sort of Security," the dark-haired man summarized. "The word itself had been capitalized as if it was a name. I had thought it might have something to do with a bank, but that lead went nowhere."

"So you were with Ox-King," the agent responded, a satisfied tone in his voice.

A glare appeared on Gohan's face. "You already knew that."

"But you never confirmed it in our last conversation."

"This is not the time to investigate me." Gohan gestured a hand to the torn-up page on the bed. "That's only half of the message. The other half is still out there."

Tien raised his hands in front of him to pacify the young man. "Calm down, calm down. Do you have any idea where it could be? Do you need to see more of your brother's stuff? Or your father's?"

Gohan paused at that as he considered the suggestions. "Yeah, I think I do. Do you have a car?"

"Out front."

Immediately, the young man moved around the agent and headed for the door. "We need to get out of here now," Gohan said as he reached the door and opened it. "No doubt our little fight caught someone's attention." As he turned around he found he was just in time to see Tien picking up his gun and holstering it.

Once he had his weapon secured, the agent looked about the room for a moment before walking towards Gohan. "You have a nice room," he complimented the youth as he passed through the open door. "Wouldn't have thought to see you here considering your previous history."

"Thanks." Gohan moved through the doorway and let the door swing closed behind him. With that, the two men began walking down the carpeted and beige-colored hallway. "Mind if I ask you a question?"

"Shoot."

"How did you find me here?"

A smirk appeared on Tien's face. "I was just released from the same hospital you left that girlfriend of yours in. Saw you leaving her room and tailed you here." He then glanced to the young man. "You needed to do a better job at noticing tails."

"I'll keep that in mind."


	23. Chapter 23

**This Chapter is brought to you by ShadowMajin and Gohan-to-the-max**

The neighborhood appeared dull as the remanents of sunlight slowly vanished with the setting sun. As he climbed out of Tien's car, Gohan took a moment to look upon his father's house, faintly remembering the last time he had been here.

The drive had been a long one coming from OrangeStarCity to Ginger Town. Tien wasn't much of a conversationalist so the trip had been made in silence aside from the occasional pitstop. It had taken over a day's worth of driving, but they had finally arrived half an hour ago. It was then a short drive to the neighborhood Goku had formerly resided in.

Once he heard the car door slam behind him, the young man immediately began walking up to the house, not even bothering to make sure the NAIE agent was following him. According to the footsteps clacking on the cement walkway, he was sure the bald man was. Reaching the front door of the house, Gohan dug out his ring of keys and listened to the metal jangle as he searched for one particular key. Upon finding the house key, he inserted it into the lock and twisted it. There was a slight resistance by the unlocking lock, but that was expected due to friction.

As he pulled the key out, Gohan grabbed the doorknob and gave it a turn, opening the door and giving it a push open. Stepping inside, the young man wasted no time in heading to his father's bedroom; he was faintly aware of Tien closing the door once he was also in the house. Entering the desired room, Gohan approached the closed closet door and swung them open. Everything was in the same place as he had left it those couple of weeks ago, not that he was expecting anything else. Immediately, he began moving the neatly packed boxes until he retrieved the lock box.

Gohan carried the metal box to the bed and set it down; a quick retrieval of his keys allowed him to unlock the box with its small corresponding key. Flipping the lid open, the youth carefully set aside the vials of poison on the bed materess along with the syringe case.

That was when Tien spoke. After picking up one of the vials and a quick study of its name, the bald man glanced to Gohan and said "Cyanide? Mind telling me where you got your hands on this?"

"A thrift shop in a rundown part of town," the young man answered absentmindedly. He was more interested in the pieces of confetti that lounged at the bottom of the lock box. Turning the metal box over, he shook it up and down many times, watching as the torn pieces of paper rained out onto the bed. Placing the box down, he kneeled down in front of the bed and began flipping over various pieces and putting them together. "I didn't buy it though, my father did."

"And why did he want poisons?" There was a hint of disproval in the agent's voice.

"Well, considering he was an assassin—and the fact that poisons tend to be very bad for people—he needed them to kill someone."

Tien grunted in response. "I don't suppose you're going to tell me who the target was."

Gohan shrugged his shoulders before answering. "No point in hiding it since it won't change anything. He was assigned Ox-King, but as you already know the Senator was shot at a later date. As far as I can tell, he failed in his assignment and that led to him getting killed."

The bald man laid the vail back down on the mattress. "I hadn't heard about a previous attempt on Ox-King. That's not something people are able to keep quiet."

"Perhaps he never got to the point where he could make the attempt," Gohan suggested, though his reponse sounded unsure. The agent had brought up a pretty good point and it was proving distracting enough to keep Gohan from piecing together the bits and pieces of paper in front of him. With a shake of his head, the youth refocused his attention on the task before him.

Yet, the thought continued to nag at him. Ox-King had been enough of a threat to require an assassination, not once, but twice. However, the second time had been committed by Videl and not someone of Goku's employers. Ever since the young man had begun searching into his father's hidden life, the same people had been after him and not any other group. In fact, Videl had mentioned something about her agency wanting to use him to hurt their rival, so there had to be some very intense competition. Now wasn't the time to make conjectures since he wasn't all that familiar with the assassin world, but he would have to find out all the dynamics very soon.

"So whose house is this?" Tien asked suddenly, giving the room a cursory glance.

"My father's," Gohan automatically replied. After a moment, he added "Well, it was his, but he left it to me in his will. His lawyer tracked me down at the funeral and invited me to his office."

The agent nodded his head and then asked "Who's the lawyer?" It came out more as if the bald man was making small talk, just trying to fill in the silence rather than out of general curiosity. "For all we know, he's got a part in this. At least, everyone you seem to run into has had one."

The image of Roshi popped into the young man's head, from the man's bald head to his long white beard. "Some guy named Roshi," he answered.

Tien frowned at that, stopping his awkward observation of the bedroom. As the man turned his bald head to look at the youth, he then inquired "That's not a very common name."

That made Gohan stop what he was doing. Tien's tone was hesitant, almost as if he were fishing for information. That name must have meant something to him. Although he was loath to giving away information, especially at this time with a tenuous ally, he needed to know what had changed Tien's mood. "Old guy, bald head, long, white beard. Liked wearing these red-rimmed glasses."

When Tien didn't respond to him, Gohan turned to look at the man, only to find that the agent was staring at him intensely. "What?"

It was a long moment before Tien replied. "You just described the head of the NAIE, from the beard to his sunglasses. There's no way you could have met him."

Gohan scowled at the implication—one that was shouting that he was wrong, or in a wrong state of mind. "Maybe there are two men called Roshi," he shot back indignately.

"Two separate men that look the same, have the same tastes in accessories, and share the same name?" Tien countered. "Highly unlikely."

That was a legitament point. Something was wrong here, very wrong. "So it's the same person?"

"Why would the head of the National Agency of Inquiry and Enforcement be talking to you about a will?" Tien retorted. "That just doesn't happen."

While that held merit, Gohan didn't respond to it, at least not initially. Part of him wanted to prove this agent guy wrong, but making the suggestion just because he wanted to show Tien up wasn't a viable reason. Going to check it out to make sure that the lawyer was indeed who he claimed he was was a better motive. "Since we're in town, we can go check this out. I know where his office is."

Tien nodded his head in agreement. "Okay, we'll do that."

With that settled, Gohan returned his attention to the paper puzzle. It wasn't long before he had it completed. "Okay, first line," he began, "Tango, Alpha, Charlie, Tango, India, Charlie, Alpha, Lima. Second line: the numbers two, five, and zero followed by Hotel, India, Golf, Hotel, a space and then Oscar and Alpha."

While Gohan had been reading out the message, Tien had pulled out the paper that had the other half of the message. With a pen, he wrote down what he heard. There were some exaggerated motions with audible noice when the agent heard the numbers, most likely due to him scratching something off. Some more writing occurred until Tien finished decoding the message. "Because of the numbers, I think it would be safe to say that this portion is the first part of the message," the bald man announced.

"Part of an address you think?" Gohan questioned.

"Yeah. If we do it that way, we get Tactical Securities, 250 High Oak Drive."

"Have you ever heard of Tactical Securities?"

Tien nodded his head. "They're security specialists made up of former military and special forces. Usually hired to protect CEOs, politicians, and other wealthy constituents when they feel like present security levels aren't adequate."

Gohan thought back to that passage in the Malone-Engvall bill. If he remembered right, the bill had said it was allocating funds as compensation for services rendered. If this Tactical Securities group was the Securities mentioned, then it had federal funding for politicians that were using their services. Whether those funds were compensating for security details or assassinations was unknown, but the implications if the second option was true were serious. "If this group is really an assassination group," he stated out loud, "then there are politicians using them for killing people."

"That's a serious accusation," Tien replied, his tone severe. "If it's at all true, we're gonna need hard evidence."

Gohan nodded his head. "The Malone-Engvall bill mentioned sending payments to a 'Securities' group. If Tactical is this group, they'll have records of receiving the payments and I'd imagine someone in the treasury keeps records of how and where the money is spent."

"Then we need to get into Tactical Securities," Tien summed up simply.

Gohan rose to his feet and looked at the agent. "Right after we check out Roshi."

The two-story building that had housed Roshi's lawfirm was vacant. It was as if no one had resided in it for months.

Gohan was flabbergasted upon seeing the building front. When he had last been here, the place had been quite active despite the few people that had actually been here. The letters that had been painted to the glass in the front door were gone, scrubbed out of existence. Graffiti had been sprayed all over the brick surface of the building, making it seem dirtier and rundown than it previously had been.

Something was up and it smelled bad. Law offices don't just appear one day and vanish the next, not if they're legitimate.

"Are you sure this is the place?" Tien asked, appearing next to the young man. He was examining the abandoned building with a critical eye, not quite sure if his leg wasn't being pulled.

"Yeah, I'm sure," Gohan responded, his face hardening as he buried his incredulousness. "And it seems like I've been played from the very beginning."

"You think these secretative people would go to the lengths of reading you a will for some special purpose? Excuse me if I find that hard to believe."

"Okay, what would you do if an assassin who worked for you suddenly died? You'd make sure he didn't leave any loose ends, right?" the young man countered.

Tien nodded his head in agreement. "I would."

"And that would include making sure that the assassin didn't leave any evidence of the existence of his job—searching his house, going through his papers, checking out the people he knew, and such. A will would definitely fall into those parameters."

"So you're saying they set up a meeting with you just to make sure you were unaware of your father's activities? That sounds a bit far-fetched if you ask me. But for argument's sake, let's say they did do this—why would they have a public figure like Roshi carry out the meeting?" the bald man pointed out.

"Tell me how many times you see the NAIE director in the paper, picture included," Gohan shot back. "Because I can't think of one. Most people may know his name, but Roshi hasn't had his photo published in years. He's a name, not a person for the majority of people. Heck, you could say that about all the federal agency directors. Their pictures were in the paper when they were going through the appointment processes and then abruptly stop after they get the job."

"Point taken," Tien replied dryly.

As a silence fell on them, the two staring at the empty building, a look of disgust appeared on Gohan's face. "Let's go back to Orange Star. There's nothing left for us here."

It didn't take long for the two men to get back in the car and take off. They drove in silence for the longest time until they left the city limits. It was then that Tien struck up the conversation again. "Everytime I run into you, I keep getting more questions than answers."

Gohan grunted in response. "Tell me about it."

"Alright, do you recall the Carlton Gates?" Upon hearing the question, the young man glanced at Tien questioningly. "You blew up one of the rooms when you were last there. What I want to know is how you managed to get a powerful-enough bomb in there and detonate it."

Gohan returned his attention to the front window, remaining quiet for several moments. "There wasn't a bomb," he eventually answered.

"Then how did a giant hole in the side of the building appear?" Gohan could hear the disbelief in the agent's voice.

Instead of answering right away, the young man held up his left hand, balling it into a fist. Concentrating it, his fist began glowing a brightly. "I barely understand enough of this as it is, but I used ki," he began. "It's like being able to use your life force to destroy things is what I've been told." The youth let the glow fade away after that—no use in keeping his driver distracted while he was driving anymore than he was.

"How the hell did you do that?" Tien demanded, his voice filled with awe.

"Don't know to be honest," Gohan replied with a shrug. "But apparently I've been trained to do it and there are a few other people that can do it too. I know you saw Piccolo do it in your hotel room."

Another silence fell on them until the bald agent asked "And this Tactical Securities group has more people that can do that?"

"I wouldn't be surprised, but I'd also say that not all of them can do it. I was under the impression that the number of people who can do it is very limitied, like a small handful. I've killed two of them so far and I only know of one other person left that can."

"What can this other person do?"

"Well, the last time I saw him, he blew up a house I was in."

"That's very comforting."

* * *

One long drive later and a short stop at a motel and the two men had returned to OrangeStarCity around mid-afternoon. In fact, they had even found the location of Tactical Securities and for a place of business, it was very low-key.

When Gohan had first heard of the company, he had been expecting to see a large corporate building that proudly proclaimed the name of the place in huge block letters. While he was right about the large part, the building itself was fairly subdued. The complex spread out over an entire city block, its brown brick outer walls making it look more like a giant, dull rock. There was no sign in front of the building or on it to declare it as Tacitical Securities, though there were a couple of flag poles that waived a couple colorful flags. It was a very uninteresting place to stare at and made a person look elsewhere for something more interesting to look at.

Of course, the electrified barbwired fence that surrounded the complex stood out in stark contrast to the boring façade.

The fence had been Gohan's first tip-off that this place wasn't what it was pretending to be. Whoever had designed it wanted the casual bystander to glance at it, not think much of it, and go about their business. For someone of a sharper—if not suspicious—mindset, the whole complex screamed that it was anything but.

A closer inspection showed the building was covered with security cameras. Patrols of guard dogs and their handlers searched over the grassy lawn that surrounded the complex. While the sight of the dogs would be odd to see in a suburban or urban setting, this location was just outside of the city limits, so their was an obvious lack of foot-traffic here.

And that made things harder to infiltrate the building. Assuming one could get past the fence, the dogs would be all over you, not to mention the security cameras saw everything. One would have to be an employee just to bypass those obstacles.

That was what kept Gohan's attention. At the outer perimeter stood a security checkpoint where employees had to arrive, hand over identification cards to a guard at the small, white-painted booth, and then be allowed through once a long striped-painted board was raised. From what the young man could see, the admitted employees could drive right up to the complex and disappear down a ramp, most likely heading into an underground garage.

Glancing to his current partner, Gohan saw Tien, to his credit, studying the place. He hadn't made a single sound since they had arrived. The sun was nearing the end of the day and the sky was beginning to take on a tired orange tint.

Seeing that the young man was staring at him, Tien turned his head to look back. "So what's the plan?"

"I'm still working on that," Gohan admitted as he returned to staring at the complex. "We can't exactly storm the place guns blazing."

"I'd appreciate that. I'd rather not die doing this."

It seemed Lady Luck decided to grace them at that moment as a car suddenly emerged from the underground parking garage. It took its time covering the distance between the garage entrance and the front gate, but eventually reached the security booth. The driver's window was rolled down and an arm was extended out. There was something in the hand and whatever it was was enough for the security guard to allow them to leave the premises.

Gohan perked up at this, taking note of two men in the front seats. The fact that both front windows were rolled down helped in identifying this. "I think we found our way in."

Tien had also been watching the car. "The car that just left?" he asked for confirmation.

"Yeah. Follow them for a little bit."

Starting up the car, the bald man put it in drive and took off after their target, keeping a distance between them. "Tell me what you're thinking," he said to Gohan. Obviously he wanted some sort of plan.

"The only way into that complex is to be employees," Gohan stated, keeping his eyes on the car in front of them. "We need to get whatever it was the driver showed that security guard so we can get through."

"I doubt they'd just hand us what we want," Tien pointed out.

"I know. And we can't risk them going back to T.S. once we do get out hands on it, so we're gonna have to disappear for awhile."

The agent glanced at the young man suspiciously, his eyes darting back to the road in front of them. "What do you mean by 'disappear'?"

"You'll have to wait. I'm still thinking of something."

Tien was silent for a few seconds after that before he grumbled "What the hell have I gotten myself into?"

Gohan didn't both dignifying that question with an answer. He had been asking that very one for the last couple of weeks and still hadn't come up with a satisfying answer. Still, only following another car couldn't only last for so long. Once he felt they were a sufficient distance away from the Tactical Securities building, he ordered "Pull them over."

A questioning look appeared on the bald man's face. "Pull them over?" he echoed.

"Yeah, you're a cop, aren't you? You have to have some sort of siren."

"Federal agent," Tien growled in response, but nevertheless did what was asked of him. Reaching to the dashboard, he flipped a switch right above the CD player and blue lights began flashing. Where it was coming from, Gohan didn't know, but he could see the light filling up the windshield before abruptly disappearing, only to reappear less than a second later.

Immediately, the car in front of them pulled over, Tien doing the same behind it. Once they came to a stop, Gohan reached underneath his seat, grabbing a bottle, and pulling it out.

"What's that?" Tien was looking at him questioningly.

"Chloroform," Gohan answered as he lifted his hips up and reached a hand to a back pocket. There he pulled out a couple of rags and placed them on his lap, lowering his behind back into the seat.

"Where did you even get that?" the agent exclaimed. "You haven't been out of my sight since we joined up!"

"Found it in my father's bathroom," the young man answered casually. Though he had been determined to go straight to the headquarters of Tactical Securities, the sudden call of nature had made him make a brief pitstop. Unfortunately, the toilet paper roll had been empty and that had made the youth search for more. It was during this search he found the chloroform bottle under the bathroom sink. The rags had been thin dishtowels Goku had kept in the kitchen. Despite Tien's ever present eye, the bald man hadn't even looked at him as they left the house; that was the only reason why he never saw the bottle in the dark-haired man's hand.

Unscrewing the bottle cap, Gohan placed one of the rags on the open bottle and held it tight to it. Turning the bottle over, he could feel a coolness soak into the rag before the young man turned it back over. The sound of sloshing liquid filled the car as Gohan set the laced rag on his leg and repeated the process with the other one. Once that rag was tainted with the chloroform, he handed it to Tien who accepted it. Screwing the cap back onto the bottle, the young man said "Treat this like a normal police stop. Obviously our clothes aren't uniforms, so the driver is gonna point that out. The moment he does, I put my rag on his friend. This should distract the driver so that you can do the same."

"And then?"

"Making this up as I go," Gohan reminded him as he dropped the bottle onto the floor and picked up the rag on his leg, balling it up to hide it in his hand. "Now let's get this over with."

Resigning himself to the youth's ploy, Tien opened his car door just as Gohan did. Simultaneously, they slammed the doors shut and nonchalantly walked up to the car. Though he was behind the car, Gohan could make out the movement of the two workers through the back window. Obviously they were checking out him and Tien out, wondering why they weren't in police uniform. They were even asking each other about it, the youth imagined.

As he moved up the side of the car and reached the open window of the passenger door, Gohan relaxed his hand, allowing the balled rag to begin unraveling. Making sure to keep it out of sight, the young man maneuvered the rag with his fingers and palm to get it ready for his strike.

"License and registration," Tien asked once he reached the driver's window. Peering into the car, Gohan couldn't see the driver's face, but his body language was indicating he was uncomfortable and bewildered.

"Umm, are you a policeman?" the driver asked carefully. The man had his hands on the steering wheel and was grasping it tightly if his white knuckles were any indication.

"I am," Tien replied calmly. "License and registration."

"Yeah, okay," the driver responded. "It's just…why aren't you in uniform?"

_Well, that happened faster than anticipated._ Due to the passenger looking towards Tien, this gave Gohan the advantage of surprise as he whipped out his rag and forced it on the man's face. With his other hand, Gohan pressed it onto the back of the man's head, making sure the man couldn't escape.

However, the passenger immediately began struggling, making muffled sounds due to the rag in his face. This made the driver jerk around to stare astonished at the sight. "What the hell!" the man exclaimed.

Instantly, Tien had his rag in the man's face, copying Gohan's pose. Even though both men struggled, the chloroform proved to be fast-acting and rendered them unconscious. With their bodies slumping, both Gohan and Tien held the men and gently pushed them back against their car seats.

"That was faster than I thought it would be," Gohan commented once he had released his hold on his target.

"That's usual for someone inexperienced with it," Tien replied. "Now what?"

Gohan merely stared at the car's occupants before he moved to open the door. Once he had, he stepped up to the car passenger, dropping his rag as he did so, and began rifling through his pockets. "Search the driver," he ordered. "Try and find anything that might help us."

Checking the right pocket and then the left, Gohan ultimately found a plastic card and spare change. Tien found a similar card along with a wallet and keys. "Brian Johnson," Tien read out loud from the card. "No picture on it."

"Manuel Lopez," Gohan read as well before flipping the card over; he found a black strip there. "I think these are security passes."

"Safe to say," Tien agreed. "So now we have our way in."

Gohan looked to the uniforms the men were wearing and studied them. They were full body suits with zippers that ran from the collar to the hips. Other than being solid blue and baggy, there weren't any other identifying aspects of it. "We need to get our hands on these uniforms."

"So we strip them."

Gohan shook his head. "We also have to show up at the beginning of their shifts too. It's a little after 5:00 and both of these guys look like nine-to-five workers."

"So we need to be here around seven in the morning and just slip in with the day shift," Tien surmised. "That still doesn't preclude us from taking these uniforms."

"Do you know how to keep two men unconscious and restrained for over twelve hours?" Gohan retorted. "That's not something we can do; it's too much work. We need to come up with a better solution."

Tien nodded his head. "I'll give you that. So then what? How would you incapacitate these guys?"

Gohan glanced away. Honestly, he had been trying to figure that part out, but it had been eluding him the entire time. It also didn't help that these guys had seen their faces and would remember them—unless the chloroform wiped out the memory. _Yeah, like that would work._ More likely than not, these guys would remember this incident eventually. It would take some head trauma to erase this from their memories, but Gohan wasn't looking forward to beating on them. It was doubtful Tien would go along with that idea.

So what could result in keeping these workers unconscious while delaying their memory from remembering this event? Not to mention keeping both workers restrained. Glancing down the road, Gohan tried to come up with an idea, but was drawing a blank. The only thing he could think of was kidnapping and that was not a viable solution. Letting his eyes drift, he soon found himself staring at one of the long road lights that stood off next to the road.

"We wreck their car," Gohan declared immediately. "Putting them in an accident will force them to go to a hospital, which guarantees that they won't be around for their shift. It can also explain why they're found unconscious in their car aside from foul play."

Tien stared at him shocked. "You're gonna willingly hurt these guys?"

"We've already attacked them," Gohan pointed out. "If you had a problem with this, you better turn away right now."

The agent hardened his face. "This better work."

Picking up his rag, Gohan shut the passenger door before walking around the car and approaching the driver's door. Handing Tien the rag, who accepted it, the young man made a quick note of the gear shift sticking out behind the driving wheel. Sliding his right foot into the car, he pressed it on the break and moved the gear shift into Drive. Picking up the driver's arm, he used the long sleeve of the man's uniform to wipe the shift clean of fingerprints, maneuvering the arm above and below the bar.

Once that was done, Gohan pressed his forearm on top of the wheel and turned it to a side, mentally calculating if he had angled the car to run right at one of the lamp posts. When he was satisfied, he reached with both of his hands and grabbed the driver's right leg, moving it until the man's foot was just above the gas pedal.

Faintly, Gohan was aware of Tien taking a step back. Apparently he wasn't too trusting of what the dark-haired youth was doing, but then again he probably didn't want to get hit by the car should it do something unexpected. Gohan didn't blame him for that. As he felt ready, he pushed the driver's leg onto the gas pedal and heard the engine beginning to roar louder. A shrieking sound began to fill the air as the tires spun against the asphalt. Smoke began to lift into the air as the smell of burning rubber began to fill any nearby noses.

Gohan braced himself on what he knew was about to happen. Taking a deep breath, he pushed off the ground on his ground leg, trying to jump away from the car as his other foot left the break pedal. Immediately, the car tore off, clipping Gohan's lower leg and sending him crashing to the ground. Letting out a grunt, Gohan glanced towards the car and watched as it raced to his targeted lamp post and ram it right in the middle of the car hood. A loud booming sound filled the air as metal was bent and crumpled. A whinning sound came soon after as sparks shot out of the base of the lamp post, slowly leaning away from the car with a groan before falling to the ground. Smoke billowed out of the broken engine of the car, the tires at a complete stop.

That was when Gohan felt Tien grab him by the shoulders and forced him off the road. Caught off guard, the young man scrambled to get his legs and feet beneath him until he was standing. "We've got to go, now," the agent said urgently.

Without saying a word, Gohan hurried back to Tien's car, smarting from the growing limp in his leg. Opening the passenger door and climbing into the car, followed by the door slamming shut, the young man began putting his seatbelt on and said "We have one last stop before going back to T.S."

Tien slammed his door shut and turned his head to look at Gohan. "And where is it?"

* * *

Krillen lay unconscious on the floor, the result of another chloroform attack.

"You know, I think you're getting good at that," Tien commented as he stared down at the store owner. Raising his eyes, he looked about the room, his face showing how unimpressed he was. "So why are we here?"

Gohan ignored the question. Instead he was walking about the clothes racks, searching for one in particular. He found it moments after the agent had spoken, spotting a rack covered with blue, full-body uniforms. Grabbing one, he raised it into the air so that the bald man could see it. "Think these would pass for the TS uniform?"

Tien squinted his eyes at it, unconsciously taking a few steps closer to get a better look. "At first glance it does," he reluctantly admitted.

Gohan lowered the uniform and glanced at the front of it. "There's nothing identifying it as some other company, so I'm betting these are our disguises." With that, he tossed the body suit through the air at Tien, who clumsily caught it. Grabbing another one, he threw it at the agent as well.

"How do you know these are our sizes?" the bald man complained once the other one had landed in his arms. "Shouldn't you at least try it on?"

"We're about the same size," Gohan shrugged before something caught his eye. Along the wall was a shelf, which had a few large duffle bags resting on one of the shelves. "If you want to double check, be my guest," he continued as he moved to the shelf and grabbed the duffle bag. Turning, he made his way to the front counter and the drape-covered doorway. "By the way, do you need a new gun? Ammo? Anything for your self-defense?"

Tien scowled as he tilted his body to a side, his gun holster being presented. "I have my weapon. Maybe need an extra magazine or two."

"What kind?"

".45."

The young man nodded his head as he reached the drape. "Keep an eye out. I'll be right back."

"And where are you going?"

"A secret room in the basement that has a lot of weapons."

"Naturally."

Gohan rolled his eyes at the comment before he noticed something else. On a nearby table was a stack of boxes, bold letters proclaiming them to be amateur fingerprinting kits. The presentation of the boxes made it look like something a parent would buy for their child—a typical gag gift or stocking stuffer—which meant the product wasn't all it was cracked up to be. Still, it would do for what he needed. Grabbing the box, he then made his way through the drape and down the stairwell behind it. Reaching the bottom, he saw the familiar keypad and door.

Dropping the bag on the floor, Gohan opened the fingerprinting kit and pulled out the powder container and brush. Opening the container, he pressed the brush into the powder and shuffled it about, making sure each bristle was coated. Moving the brush to the pad, he began dusting it. And just as he expected, it wasn't doing that well of a job.

However, it became quite obvious which buttons had been used. Undefined smudge marks appeared on five of the nine numbered buttons. "2, 5, 6, 7, and 9," the dark-haired man mummured to himself. Closing his eyes, he tried to remember how he saw Krillen dial in the code. He couldn't remember the starting place, but the short man's hand had gone right, then up to the top, then down, and right again. 56279 or 79256. Staring at the keypad, Gohan sucked in a deep breath and punched in 56279.

A redlight flickered on, causing the young man to grimace. Unsure what to do, he kept still waiting to see what would happen. When the redlight turned off, he let out a sigh of relief before punching in the second number. This time the greenlight came on and Gohan quickly opened the door.

The familiar sight of the sterile metal room appeared before Gohan. Immediately he got to work. A few handguns with their corresponding magazines and ammo found their way into the duffle bag. A few extra for the .45 Tien had requested as well. A couple of knives were added for good measure. Moving to the explosives section, Gohan grabbed a few of those, paused, then added some more. One could never have too many after all. A few other items found their way into the duffle bag until Gohan was satisfied with his haul. Zipping the bag shut, he hauled it out of the room, shutting the door behind him. Climbing the stairs, he reached the top soon enough and spotted Tien near the store entrance, keeping an eye out for…well, for anything, be it an enemy or some customer.

"Ready," Gohan said as he strode around the front counter and headed towards the agent.

Glancing to the bag, Tien asked "How much did you get?"

"Enough for war."

* * *

_Dear TDS Readers,_

_Considering that the 2nd year anniversary of our group is nearing, we thought it best to do something to celebrate putting up with each other for 730 days. As such we came to the conclusion that we wanted to do something for you guys who have read and reviewed our stories. On May 8th and 9th, several of our authors (such as Razamataz22 and Gue22) will be participating in a Questions and Answers section on our forums. This is your chance to get to know the writers of TDS a little better and we might even be able to give you some advice. We look forward to seeing what it is you wish to hear from us and will appreciate any feedback._

_Much obliged,_

_Team Dragon Star_


	24. Chapter 24

Tien's car rolled up to the security gate, coming to a stop in front of the mobile arm.

"Last chance to back out," Gohan said as he shifted in his seat. At his feet was the duffle bag, its strap held tightly in the young man's hands.

"Too late for that," Tien retorted as a security guard walked up to the car. Immediately, Tien rolled down the window and pulled out the clearance card that belonged to Brian Johnson. Handing it to the guard, they waited for the man to decide whether they could move along or find themselves detained for trespassing.

"All clear," the guard said as he handed the card back. A sense of relief filled the car as the guard returned to the outpost and raised the mobile arm. Without hesitation, Tien drove on through, rolling up his window as he did so.

The two men remained silent as they approached the looming headquarters of Tactical Securities. A sense of anxiousness began to well up with every passing second. Neither said a word until they had entered the underground parking garage, finding the familiar sight of blank concrete and parked cars. Ramps had been situated in the middle of the complex with the surrounding area made up of parking spots. On one side was a small cordoned area painted with yellow diagonal stripes. A couple of elevators were in this area.

Most of the cars were parked as close to the elevator as possible, which left quite a few spots toward the opposite side open. Opting for one, Tien parked the car and turned off the engine. For awhile, the only sound that was made was the sound of both men breathing.

Ultimately, it was up to the bald man to break the silence. "So now what?"

That sent Gohan spiraling into motion as he pulled out the duffle bag, he unzipped one of the pouches on the side before pulling out a handheld external hard drive, a USB cord hanging from it. The young man then handed it to Tien, who accepted the device hesitantly. "You said you needed evidence against these guys right? You go find their computer mainframes and copy all their records and data. I'm not sure if that will get it all, but it should give you something to work with."

"And what about you?" the agent pressed.

Gohan stared out the windshield for a moment, debating within himself what he should divulge. Ultimately, he knew there wasn't any use in covering up his plan. "To cause as much damage as I possibly can," he replied steadily. Not bothering to look at Tien's disapproving look, or whatever reprimand the man had in waiting, the youth continued "There's no way we can simply stroll into this building, go right up to their computers, get all the data we want, and walk out without raising a single alarm."

"We've strolled right in so far," Tien muttered.

Ignoring that, Gohan said "There is going to be some resistance, so instead of hoping we don't encounter it, I'm going to go off to another part of the building and create a diversion. All their security will focus on me, which will leave you with fewer guards to deal with and you can get in and out."

Tien stared at him for several moments before saying "You sound as if you're expecting to die here."

Gohan snorted at that remark. "We're going into a company that specializes in defense—who knows how many former military men are here. By no means am I looking for my last stand, but let's be realisitic about this. With me drawing all their attention, they'll be trying to kill me with everything they've got and there's a high chance of that happening."

Tien was scowling now. "Where did all that talk go about you taking the fight to them—huh? You sounded as if you were going to storm the place, wreck some havac, and get out without a scratch. Hell, I've seen you fight before. If you even use half the stuff you used back then, you should get out of this no sweat."

This time it was Gohan's turn to give the agent a look. "That was a one-on-one fight, not fifty armed men shooting at me in all directors. That's a big difference."

"Not if you use your head," Tien shot back. "You better not be trying to weasel out of this by dying."

"What's more important: me surviving or you getting information and exposing this entire thing?" Gohan retorted just as vehemently. When the agent remained quiet, the young man continued "Your retrevial of that information and prosecuting everyone involved in front of the whole world is our goal. You get in that building, you get that data, and you get out, you hear me?" At this, Gohan's voice dropped to a deadly tone. "Don't wait for me. If I get out of this place, I'll contact you."

Slowly, the bald man nodded his head in understanding. "I'll hold you to that," he said.

Gohan didn't bother responding to that. At this point they were pointless words; however, they did need to plan their next move carefully. "We need to enter the building separately. They undoubtedly have security cameras all over the place, so if they see us enter at the same time, they're gonna try to track us both down."

"Right," Tien said as he nodded his head. "I'll go in first and track down their mainframes. You come in after me then."

"I'll be heading to the security room first. I'll knock out their cameras and leave them blind, which will give you more time."

Tien let in a deep breath before letting out loudly. "That's as good of a plan as we're gonna get right now."

Removing the keys from the ignition and grabbing the door handle, the agent opened the door and stepped out, turning around once he was standing. Bending slightly down so he could see Gohan, the bald man spoke "Don't forget to lock the car up when you get out."

Gohan just stared at the man blankly as he slammed the door shut, the sound echoing throughout the parking garage, and walked off towards the elevators. The young man watched his bald partner the whole way, choosing to look away when the elevator doors opened and shut moments later.

Now came the boring part.

Seconds slowly crept by as the youth kept his mind calm. Admittedly, there was a sense of apprehension, but one would expect so considering what he was planning. Casual glances to his wristwatch only served to annoy, if not frustrate him. When he felt like he waited long enough, Gohan opened the car door and climbed out. Picking up the duffle bag, he hung it by its strap over his right shoulder and slammed the door shut. The thought of locking the car graced his thoughts for a moment, but the young man tossed it aside. He strode to the elevators, pausing only to press the up button, allowing the elevator to arrive, and then entered it.

Once inside the steel cage, Gohan took note of the floor buttons. There were ones titled 1 through 3, obviously representing the above ground floors. A few others went from B1 to B4, most likely representing the parking garage levels. Hitting 1, Gohan waited until he reached the floor and got off the elevator.

A plain hallway met him as he left the elevator. There were only two ways, one to the left and one to the right with doors placed at even intervals either way. Every once in a while a set of chairs or potted plants were placed between the doorways in an attempt to add some décor. There were a few people there too, everyone in the blue work uniforms except for one man that wore a suit. On the wall directly across from the elevator doors was a large black directory with white letters and numbers indicating what rooms held what. Immediately, Gohan took a couple steps closer and began searching the bored. It took a moment, but he found "Security" in Room 2429. Back to the elevator it was.

Once on the correct floor, Gohan quickly found out that each floor was divided into wings. Already finding himself in the first wing with the second close by, the young man knew he needed fourth one quickly. Seeing a sign that indicated where the third and fourth wings were, he began his search in that direction. It took awhile for him to find the third wing, but once he did, the youth followed it until he reached the fourth wing.

He was getting close to his destination, he could feel it. The room numbers flew by him until he had reached 2429. Standing in front of the door, Gohan unzipped the main zipper of the duffle bag, reaching in and pulling out a gun with a silencer attached. Although he wanted to put the gun in one of the large pockets on his uniform, the silencer made it too awkward to do so—namely causing the grip to stick out of the pocket and having the silencer's end stick into his side. Not wanting to risk having butterfingers when pulling the weapon out, the young man held it in his hand and used his free hand to knock on the door.

It was several moments before the door opened, revealing a puzzled-looking security guard. The man was in a dark uniform, including a hat. Instantly, Gohan sent a jab into the man's throat, crushing the man's windpipe as he gagged loudly. As the guard reached up to grab his injured neck, Gohan used the same hand to grab him by the back of his head and pull him down. Raising his leg up, the young man forced the security guard's face into his knee and threw him back. The man stumbled backwards until he fell to the floor.

Taking a step into the security room, Gohan raised his gun and his free hand, resting the butt of the weapon in his palm. Immediately, the dark-haired man saw three other guards in the room, all of them turning to look as alarm appeared on their face. Pulling the trigger, Gohan shot the guard on the far right, hitting him right between the eyes as a soft thwacking sound was made. Jerking to the left quickly, he fired again, hitting the second guard as he tried to stand up from his chair. Another turn had the youth aiming at the third guard, he was almost completely on his feet and pulling out his own gun. With another pull of the trigger, the man dropped to the floor dead.

Glancing about the room, Gohan found that all the guards were on the ground. The only sound he could hear was the clattering of an empty shell as it bounced on the floor. With a look to the first man he had attacked, the youth aimed the silenced gun at him and shot him in the head, making sure he wouldn't be getting up.

Taking a step backwards into the hall, Gohan grabbed his duffle bag and pulled it into the room, closing the door behind him. Dropping the bag by the door, the young man moved to one of the monitors and looked at the screen. He found exactly what he expected: a divided screen showing multiple views of various rooms and hallways throughout the building. A quick glance to the other computers showed the same thing.

Returning to the duffle bag, Gohan kneeled down next to it as he detached the silencer from his gun. Setting the gun on the floor, the youth shoved the silencer into the bag and began rummaging in it. It was a moment later that he pulled out what he was looking for.

There were two objects, both small rectangles roughly the size of a brick. Brown paper was wrapped expertly around them with the bolded black letters C4 EXPLOSIVE printed on them. Searching the duffle bag once more, Gohan located two sets of two metal pins, each set connected together by wires. Setting one set of pins on the floor with one of the C4 bricks, the young man stuck the other set into the other brick, each metal pin on either side of the C4. Copying the same action with the other C4 brick and set of pins, Gohan then stood up and walked back to the monitors.

One wired C4 brick was placed by the right most computers and the other was put by the left most. Feeling satisfied with the placement, Gohan went back to his bag and kneeled down once more. Picking up his gun, he shoved it into his pocket. Reaching into the duffle bag once more, he soon pulled out a small, round grenade and gripped it tightly. Hanging the bag strap over his left shoulder, he stood up and approached the door.

After opening the door, Gohan stuck his head out into the hall, searching for any nearby people. Finding it empty, he moved into the hall and stopped, holding the door open with his foot. Raising up the grenade, he stared at it as he took a deep breath. _Well, it's now or never…_

With a blank look on his face, the young man pulled out the pin and tossed the grenade back into the room. Quickly, he shut the door and hurried down the hall, trying to put as much distance between him and the room as possible. He honestly had no idea when the explosion would occur, but he wanted to be as far as he could be from the—

Before he could finish that though, a deafening roar filled the hallway as a fireball exploded from the security room. The shockwave from the blast threw Gohan off his feet. A surprised cry tore from the young man's lips as hit the tiled floor hard. Pushing the pain away, the youth did a quick mental scan of his person and found that aside from a bruise or two, he was alright. The couple of seconds it took to do that was all he would give himself as he pushed himself back onto his feet. Once upright, he looked behind him and found a fire raging where the security room had been. That was about three doors down from where he was standing.

That was when a fire alarm began wailing, the sprinkler hissing before they spouted off a cascade of water in an effort to put out the fire. With a shake of his head, Gohan took off down the hall at a hurried pace. He could gawk at the damage later.

Unfortunately, his fleeing was put to an end as several doors down the hall swung open and people began pouring into the hall. Many were wearing the blue bodysuit uniforms and would look to the fire, then immediately head in the opposite direction, heading for the nearest exit. However, there were plenty of others that were in all black uniforms, different from the security guards as they had red stripes that ran up their pant legs. They would look to the fire and only see the dark-haired youth near it. It didn't help at all that he also had a suspicious-looking bag hanging from his shoulder.

"Intruder!" someone shouted over the commotion of the sprinkler system and pounding of footfalls.

There was only one thing Gohan could do at this point. Reaching to the handle of his gun, he pulled it out and opened fire.

It was pandemonium at its finest. Alarms were blaring, people were flooding out of rooms and rushing up and down the halls—there had even been a tremor that shook the building. Whatever distraction Gohan had thought up of, Tien knew it was working.

That being said, the agents nerves were on high alert. While he had seen many people in the same blue uniform he was in, all of which were scurrying about harmlessly, there were plenty of other men in black that worried him. For one thing, the men in black wore some sort of armor on their torsos, most likely Kevlar. They also had helmets with dark visors that covered their faces, making it impossible to identify any of them. And since they were moving around with a sense of purpose, Tien felt it would be in his best interest to get out of their way.

Finding two doors marked RESTROOM with either the form of a man or woman in front of it, the bald man slipped into the men's room and pressed himself against the wall. He could still hear the marching of footsteps going up and down the hallway.

That was when the loud cries of gunfire sounded off, getting the agent's attention. Paranoid, Tien reached into his pocket and pulled out his .45. More out of habit, he checked the magazine and chamber, seeing that he weapon was loaded and ready to be used once the safety was removed.

To say that the agent was near his destination wouldn't be correct. It was more like he was searching the building, constantly reading directories to get a sense of where he needed to be. There hadn't been anything on the boards that indicated where the computer mainframes would be, so he had been wandering about aimlessly. The first floor had been ruled out mostly because it was designed to accept visitors. No way would some secret assassin group put its most valuable equipment where some random customer or inquirer could get to it. That was how he found himself currently on the second floor, somewhere in the second wing.

Now if only he could find those damn mainframes!

Tilting his head towards the door, Tien tried to focus on the noise outside of the restroom. He could still hear the storming of footsteps, but they were dying down a little. There were still the background sounds of gunfire, but there was no way to tell if they were coming closer or moving away. Due to his job in law enforcement, the bald man could differentiate between the different roars made by each gun and he could tell there were multiple guns being fired, at least four or five different types. Three handguns with at least two different caliber bullets and a machine gun from what he could tell.

With a sign, Tien turned his head back to look straight ahead, staring at the tiled walls of the restroom. The back of his skull made a dull thud against the wall behind him as he leaned his head back. _C'mon, clear those halls out._

With a glance to his watch, the agent gritted his teeth in frustration. The clock was ticking and he wasn't making any progress. The sooner he got his part done, the sooner he and Gohan could get out of here. That thought hit Tien hard then. How was he supposed to let Gohan know he got everything he needed? Crap, they really were on their own. Sure, he could go to the dark-haired young man, but he got the feeling the youth would shoot him for doing such a thing. While there was no evidence that Gohan would do that, there was proof that he became a different person when in a fighting situation. Too many unknown factors were around to properly predict his actions.

Growling to himself, Tien returned his attention to the hallway. He was pleasantly surprised to hear the noises had died down considerably, though he wasn't one to accept things at face value. Cautiously, he opened the restroom door and peeked into the corridor, finding it relatively empty. The only things he could hear were the gunfire in the distances and the constant wailing of the fire alarm. Satisfied, Tien left the restroom and continued making his way down the hall.

Seeing a pair of doors towards the end of the hallway, Tien quickened his pace to them. The closer he got to them, the more he could pick out details of them, specifically that they had no handles and had small windows at eyelevel—swinging doors. Turning to a side, the agent kept up his speed and rammed the doors with his shoulder, causing them to swing open. As he did this, he held his gun low and pointed at the floor, his head turning to look behind him as he flew through the doorway. Good, there was no one behind him.

Once through the doors, the doors swinging back and forth as they returned to their prior positions, Tien returned his sights to what was ahead of him, finding himself in another hallway. This time, the end of the corridor ended with a left turn. As he made his way to the turn, the bald man glanced to the doors on either side of the hall, looking through the small windows each door provided. There was nothing of interest from what he saw, so he kept going.

That all changed when he reached the end of the hallway. There was a door opposite the turn and with a glance through its window, Tien found himself coming to a stop. Quickly, he rushed up to the door and focused his gaze. From what he could see, there were two tables lined parallel to each other, each with three computer monitors on top.

Looking to the plaque next to the door, the bald man found the room number and a brief description: Information Technology. Feeling he was in the right place, Tien's mood began to rise before it plummeted a second later. By the door handle and on the door frame was an electronic keypad, which meant the room was sealed by an electronic lock.

Electronic locks were completely lock pick-proof. Without the code, there was just no getting in. Tien was just about to let his frustration get the better of him at that moment when a thought hit him.

It had been a very long time ago, back when he had first joined the NAIE. His first partner and him had been investigating a high executive for corporate espionage and when they had gone to his office, they found it also had an electronic lock. Yet, his partner wasn't perturbed by it. In fact, he had a foolproof way to get around them. It required a calm state of mind, leverage, and a specific amount of force, but it worked.

Looking down the hallway to make sure he was alone, Tien returned his sights to the door, took one deep breath, and then set his partner's tactic into motion.

Raising one leg, he kicked the door as hard as he could.

And just like that time, the door swung open violently. A small smile came to the agent's lips as he swiftly entered the room, grabbing the door and closing it behind him. Hurrying over to one of the monitors, Tien was pleased to see that two of them were still on, obviously left that way when the fire alarm went off.

Sitting down in a chair in front of one of the computers, the bald man placed his gun on the table and got to work. Ignoring what was already on screen, he accessed the START menu and clicked on the My Documents tab. A window popped up immediately, engulfing the entire screen. Small folder icons, paper icons, and graph icons filled the window, each with a title. Reading through many of the title names, the agent felt he had found what he was looking for.

Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the hard drive that Gohan had given him. Setting it on the table, he took the USB cord and connected it to the computer processor. Instantly, a light appeared on the hard drive, followed by a hum as the device warmed up. It took a few seconds before a much smaller window opened, offering several options concerning the inserted device.

Opting to open a window for the hard drive, Tien then began searching for the computer's security program. It wasn't long before he found it, opening up the menu for it and finding several options to choose from. There were security scans, computer tune-up, and identity protections tabs, all of which the agent ignored. The one he wanted was the Backup tab and quickly found it and clicked on it. The window changed, offering him several options, one of which was a back-up on the E-port—the USB slot the external hard drive was connected to. Selecting that option, the computer got to work, running its back-up functions and delivering every file it had to the hard drive.

With a smirk, Tien leaned back in his chair while keeping his hands on the table. It would take some time, but he was definitely getting everything.

The guard came running around the corner, gun held at his side. He barely had enough time to breathe as Gohan was on him in an instant. Shooting an arm out, he snaked it around the guard's armed arm and hyperextended it, causing the man to cry out from the pain it caused. With his other hand, the young man fired off several blows to the guard's chest, effectively stopping the screams and knocking the arm out of his lungs. Unclinching his fist, Gohan then grabbed the guard's shirt at the collar and tugged forward. That action, coupled with releasing the man's hyperextended arm, sent the black-clad man flying headfirst into the wall, effectively knocking him out.

Gohan only took a second to catch his breath before looking behind him, spotting his duffle bag lying by one of the few unharmed potted plants. After he had been spotted by the guards, he had unloaded the remaining bullets in this gun, tossing it aside when it was empty. Due to the rush of the screaming employees, that had allowed Gohan to close in on the guards fighting their way towards him and take them out in hand-to-hand combat. Well, one couldn't really call it hand-to-hand when he did all the fighting and his opponents were just tossed around like broken toys. A glance at the floor showed it was littered with unconscious bodies.

Scanning the area, Gohan tried to locate his gun, but failed to find it. No matter, he had a few more still in his bag he could use. Walking up to it, he picked the bag up and continued moving, one of his hands rummaging in the bag to locate another weapon. He was successful in that endeavor as he pulled out another handgun.

The young man didn't get too far, however, as the sound of approaching footsteps reached his ears over the wailing of the fire alarm. He really needed to turn that off eventually, otherwise he would lose his hearing. He pushed that musing aside when three more black-clad men rounded a corner, each one holding a security baton in the air.

_So these guys wanted to try him in close combat, hmm? Might as well oblige them._

Once more, he dropped the duffle bag on the floor with a thud, his handgun finding its way into his uniform pocket. With a steady stride, he approached the guards, who had spotted him and were now running full blast at him.

He wasn't worried, even if it was three against one. One reason for that was because there was always one person that was faster than the other two. Inevitably, that scenario happened here as the middle guard led the group towards him. Concentrating, Gohan began filling his body with ki, letting it flow into his arms and legs.

With a cry, the middle guard held his baton up high, ready to swing it down at the young man. Once the distance between them closed, the guard swung his weapon down, aiming for Gohan's head. Instantly, the dark-haired youth shot his arms out, blocking the blow by hitting his forearm against his attacker's wrist and the hand of his other arm bracing the block. That effectively stopped the swing in its tracks.

Due to the tilt of his body to the maneuver, Gohan used that to his advantage and continued turning his body to the side, lifting up his ki-enhanced leg and lashing out with it, landing a kick on the guard's chest and sending him flying backwards.

The other two guards jerked to the wall nearest to them and watched as their comrade fly between them and down the hall. The dark-clad man landed on his back on the ground moments later, skidding to a stop where he laid unmoving. Taking advantage of their distraction, Gohan planted his kicking leg on the floor and took a step towards the left guard. Shooting out his arms, he grabbed the man's baton just about the other's hand and with his other hand grabbed the guard at the back of his neck. Jerking him down, Gohan picked up his kicking leg once more, bent at the knee, and rammed the guard's stomach into it, knocking the wind out of him.

This caught the attention of the other guard, causing him to spring into action by swinging his club at the youth. Immediately reacting, Gohan jerked the baton he held, along with the stunned guard's hand, and blocked the incoming club with it, the sound of wood colliding echoing through the halls. As his foot came back to the floor, the youth released his grip on the back of the man's neck and balled it into a fist. With a swing, he backhanded the attacking guard on the side of his visor-covered head. Thanks to the ki enhancement, the force of the blow snapped the man's head to a side and sent him spinning into the air until he crashed onto the floor unconscious.

It was then Gohan felt the dazed guard moving, overcoming his shock. Keeping his free hand up in the air, he bent his arm at the elbow and twisted his body around to face the dark-clad man. With a jerk, he slammed his elbow on the back of the man's head, instantly making him go limp and collapse to the floor. His grip loosened on the baton, leaving Gohan to hold it.

Taking in a breath and letting it out loudly, Gohan stared at the fallen guards, noting with satisfaction that none of them were moving. However, a warning went off inside of his head, telling him that something was wrong. That was enough to send the young man into high alert as he scanned his surroundings. There was nothing that could be considered a threat, but that still didn't ease his mind.

That was when the clapping began.

Jerking his head up, Gohan tried to quickly track down the source, immediately becoming alarmed when he realized it was coming from behind him. Spinning around, he felt his blood freeze as he saw a man in dark slacks and a white dress shirt slowly walking to him, his hands maintaining a slow, steady motion of clapping.

Yet, that wasn't what Gohan focused his attention on; instead it was the dark hair that spiked upwards like a flame, a style he had only seen once before.

"Impressive," the man congratulated the youth, his deep, rough voice betraying no false modesty. "I must say, you really took down all of those guards like they were nothing. Truly admirable considering their training."

Gohan ignored the compliment. "I remember you," he called back, his face hardening into a glare. "You're the one that blew up Flappe's house."

The man smirked as his face twisted into a snide expression. With a flourish, he dropped one of his hands and arched his other through the air in front of him before he brought it to his waist. Bending down, he gave the younger man a mocking bow, never taking his eyes off of Gohan as he said "Agent Prince, at your service."


	25. Chapter 25

**This chapter is brought to you by ShadowMajin**

He was giving everything he had. A flurry of punches flew at his opponent, only to have every single one of them blocked. It was frustrating, but not nearly as aggravating as that infernal smirk that graced the shorter man's lips.

Gohan's teeth were bared as an animalistic rage covered his face. High, low, middle, nothing he was doing was getting through. This Prince fellow knew how to fight and seemed more amused by him rather than worried. It was irritating.

Suddenly, Prince ducked a blow intended for his head. Gohan didn't even have time to feel startled as a fist slammed into his stomach, pain flooding his body as the air was knocked out of his lungs,causing him to stumble backwards as he held his mid-section. Unfortunately, Prince didn't give him any time to recover and charged at him, swinging another.

Gohan barely managed to get an arm up to block the attack, his breathing slowly returning to normal. However, Prince sent another fist at him, the youth spying it out of the corner of his eye. Reacting, he tried to block it, but found he was sorely mistaken.

Instead of a fist, the assassin's hand was open, his palm and fingers glowing with a bright light. Immediately, the dark-haired man focused on it, his body prepared to leap out of the way at a moment's notice. That proved to be a mistaken as Prince had no intention of firing a ki blast. In its place, he swung another punch, this one ramming into the side of the younger man's head and sending him flying down the hall. His flight ended shortly after as his back collided with the smooth floor, skidding on it.

Gohan didn't give himself the chance to lie there and recover; in a fight like this, that wasn't an option. Swinging his legs up, buckling them at the knee, he shot them forward and used the momentum to lift his body off the floor and onto his feet. A part of him wished he hadn't done that the moment he saw Prince standing, still holding his glowing hand up and aiming it right at the youth.

He had expected ki blasts in this fight, make no mistake about that. What he was afraid of was that this guy would use the same amount of power he had when he`d obliterated Flappe's House. Still, there was a reason why they were fighting in the middle of the assassin's headquarters and not in some other, random building.

"You better not do that," he warned, holding a placating hand out in front of him. "You could blow up the entire building."

That smirk was still on his face, not something that Gohan was happy to see. "Oh, I know what I'm capable of. Unfortunately for you, you made the mistake of assuming that I care what happens to this place."

_Oh crap._ That was not what he wanted to hear. Still, he wasn't out of options just yet. "And you're sure your bosses don't? Considering how they've gone out of their way to keep this secret, I doubt they want you blowing up part of their building and exposing them to the outside world."

The smirk dropped from Prince's face, turning his features into a stony look. Apparently that need for secrecy was not something this guy was fond of. Gohan wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth though, channeling his ki into his raised hand. He just had to make sure he didn't let it glow and give himself away.

A small smile then reappeared on the shorter man's face. "You may have a point, but that doesn't mean I can't use lesser blasts." At that, the glow of the man's hand dimmed, but Gohan was not fooled. An instant later a golden beam fired from Prince's hand, racing down the hallway toward the young man.

Letting out a cry, Gohan fired his own golden blast, the two meeting midway between the two fighters. While he had been afraid he hadn't gathered enough power, he was pleasantly surprised to see both attacks detonate on each other, creating a massive explosion that sent him flying off his feet once more.

Crashing to the floor with a grunt, the dark-haired youth immediately snapped his head up to stare at the destruction that was undoubtedly in front of him. What he found was a thick cloud of smoke filling the corridor and no sight of Prince—not something he liked. From the corner of his eye, Gohan spotted an intersecting hallway next to him. Without hesitation, the youth scrambled onto his feet and hurried into the hall, pressing his back against the wall close to the corner and tilted his head towards a side. If Prince was going to attack him, it'd have to be from the corridor he had just vacated.

He focused on his hearing, trying to pinpoint any approaching sounds. It took a few moments, but the youth began picking up what sounded like footsteps, which was growing louder and louder.

At the last second, Gohan crossed a fist over his chest and lashed it out, the back of his hand slamming into a face just around the corner. Instantly, the young man swung himself off the wall and into the intersecting corridor, launching punch after punch with his other hand. Each blow collided with Prince's face, leaving him dazed after every hit and allowing the next one to land.

Unfortunately, that came to an abrupt end when Gohan went in for another jab. Instead of landing the blow, Prince shot a hand up and caught the fist, his fingers wrapping over Gohan's knuckles. With his other hand, the shorter man reached out and grabbed the youth by his collar and pulled him down and towards him. Caught off guard, the young man soon found the assassin imbedding his knee into his gut, once more forcing the air out of his lungs.

With a jerk of his leg, Prince brought his leg down, only to ram his knee back into Gohan's stomach. Reaffirming his grip on the dark-haired youth, the short man twisted his body to a side, lifting Gohan off the ground and throwing him down the hall.

_I have got to stop flying_ was the first thought that ran through Gohan's head as he found himself soaring upside-down. That quickly changed, his eyes widening when a large hole suddenly appeared beneath him. His internal alarm was going off, causing panic to flood his system. Quickly, he tried to turn himself around, only to have the side of his body crash into a foot-long piece of concrete. A cry of pain tore from his lips as he felt his body bending over either side of the concrete, coming to an end when gravity took over, dropping him to the ground.

Fortunately, the youth managed to get his arms over his head, providing some protection for his skull. The rest of his body collapsed onto the broken tile floor with a thud. He lay there for several moments, trying to overcome the jolts of pain running a marathon inside him. With a groan, he rolled onto his back and looked towards the ceiling through squinted eyes.

Above him he found a large hole, one that extended all the way up to the third floor and the surrounding walls of the second. Black scorch marks outlined the edges of the hole, informing Gohan that this was the result of that ki-caused explosion. Staring at it, he couldn't help but wonder how much more damaging it could have been if Prince had fired his blast at full power. It was frightening to consider it.

A loud clap filled the hall then, causing Gohan to jerk his head to a side. From there he saw the shoes and legs of someone he _really_ didn't want to see at that moment. And they were approaching him.

_Crap._

…

_67% complete. Almost there._ Tien was out of his seat, nervously leaning forward in front of the computer. He had known it would take some time for the back-up to perform its action, but the longer it went, the more anxious he felt. More time meant a greater chance that someone would come to the room and find him. Unpleasant thoughts filled the agent's head of what he'd have to do if that scenario came to pass.

_68% and counting._

Tien hadn't felt this feeling while he had been waiting for the most part. It was only when he felt the building damn near shake itself to the ground that his nerves began getting the better of him. What the hell was going on out there? Was this part of Gohan's master plan of distracting everyone? How had the youth gotten his hands on explosives so powerful that it sent shockwaves strong enough to alert a Richter scale?

Reaching to the desk, the bald man placed his hand on top of the handle of his gun, reassuring himself that his weapon was nearby. It was a small comfort for the moment, but Tien found himself reaching more and more for the gun the more edgy he got. Before this was over, he undoubtedly would be aiming it at the doorway, just waiting for some poor soul to enter the room.

_69%._

Bored, Tien moved his hand from the gun handle and placed it on the mouse. Clicking on the file window, he began scanning through all the folder icons, skimming for something that might catch his attention. For the most part, there wasn't anything of note that he couldn't check on in a more secure place—that was until he spotted an icon titled NAIE.

With a frown, Tien clicked on the icon. He had to admit, he was a bit curious as to why a document folder would be named after his agency. As a new window popped up, the agent spied several document icons appear, a few of which indicated spreadsheets and PDF files. Clicking on the first icon, he opened a spreadsheet that showed several transactions to various names, ones that the bald man was unfamiliar with.

It was possible that this NAIE folder had nothing to do with his agency. That was a growing thought in Tien's head as he would open, scan, and close spreadsheets. It was when he opened the sixth one that alarm bells went off in his head. This new spreadsheet revealed transactions, much like the previous ones; however, the recipient of these funds was none other than a source called Roshi.

Jaw dropping, Tien moved his face closer to the computer monitor to make sure he was reading this right. From what he could tell, this Roshi source had been receiving a lot of dollar figures for what looked like months, if not years. As much as he would have liked to discount it being his boss, the fact a folder entitled NAIE with the name Roshi listed in its documents was way too coincidental to be brushed aside.

Closing the file, Tien looked at the other icons until he found a PDF file. Opening it, a window with a scanned document appeared on the screen. As luck would have it, this one mentioned a man named Roshi in it. Intently, the bald man began reading the document word for word. The first few paragraphs soon confirmed part of his suspicions: a man named Roshi in the NAIE had been accepting payment from Tactical Securities. In return, this Roshi would supply the defense contractors with information, ranging from potential contracts to investigations—investigations that weren't described, but ones Tien felt had some implications for T.S.

Finding nothing more, he closed the file and began searching through more PDFs. The fourth one proved to be the one he was searching for as a list of memos appeared before him. Using the Ctrl+F function, he found Roshi's name in the middle of the file and immediately began reading the memos.

At first they didn't make sense. The more he read, the more he couldn't make heads or tails about them. In the end, he went to the beginning and read each and every note. _That_ helped clear the picture. From what he could tell, T.S. was concerned about the death of one of their agents and wanted to tie up any loose ends. They didn't have any available "assets" to send in, so they searched for outside help. That's when Roshi's name popped up. He had been selected to handle the investigation with T.S. footing the bill. No other details were given.

Leaning back in his seat, Tien raised a hand to his face, curling his fingers around his chin and over his mouth. This was troubling, no doubt about it. This company here had some very serious connections and there was no telling how deep they ran.

Still, Tien had to wonder who this agent was. Was it normal for T.S. to be so concerned about one of their employees? Or maybe there was something surrounding this particular agent that required extra scrutiny. It was a shame the bald man was unfamiliar with the comings and goings of assassin groups. Having knowledge of their day-to-day activities would've come in quite handy right about now.

"_And why did he want poisons?"_

"_Well, considering he was an assassin…"_

Tien's eyes widened. Gohan's father had been an assassin, one that had died. Looking to the dates on the memos, the agent quickly deduced that these had been written nearly a month ago—right about the time Gohan claimed to have met with a lawyer and found vials of poison in his father's house.

Was…was it possible that T.S. had contacted Roshi to look into the life of one of their agents, make sure there were no threats, and report back to them? Was the abandoned office building a charade for Roshi to investigate each person associated with the assassin and determine their potential for damage?

But who would Roshi have to interview? Gohan for one, that was obvious. A wife perhaps? Gohan had to have a mother, right?

Tien frowned at that. The dark-haired youth had not mentioned a mother figure in his life. Though that didn't mean there wasn't one, it also meant it was possible there wasn't one. The bald man shook his head. Now wasn't the time to get caught up in uncertainties. He could ask Gohan later about his mother. So what did that leave? There was no telling if Gohan's father had many friends—that could be a lot or very little depending on who this man was. As for family, that was also something for the younger man to answer. He would know about other relatives like uncles, aunts, grandparents, or sib—

No, Gohan _did_ have a sibling; a brother that had been targeted and killed in a car bomb approximately two weeks ago. Had the brother been interviewed by Roshi and determined to be a threat?

Yes, that had to be it. Tien could see it now: the brother had been called into the law firm, chatted, and then reported on. Tactical Securities then tracked Goten down from Roshi's fake law office and used one of their agents to blow him to smithereens. Why else have assassins if you didn't use them for what they were trained for? So the assassin made sure the kill was good, spotted Gohan fleeing the scene, and reported back to headquarters for this surprise turn of events. A fake meeting set up at the ritzy Carlton Gates would rectify that.

But that didn't work. Instead, according to Gohan, his sleeper agent training kicked in and fought off the assassin and killed him. _Her_ Tien quickly amended. Stunned, they then sent in another assassin, who attacked not only Gohan, but a friend of his in broad daylight and chased them into a dinner and then to the makeshift NAIE headquarters. Another assassin falls due to the sleeper agent training and the T.S. heads start to panic. They then send a more destructive assassin, who tracks Gohan and his friend to a house in the suburbs and openly demolishes it.

A scowl worked its way onto Tien's face. There was going to be hell to pay for this once he had all these files downloaded. Roshi was at the top of his list. Quickly, the agent closed the file windows and retrieved the one for the hard drive.

_76% complete._

Suddenly, the door knob began to rattle. Immediately, Tien had his gun raised, pointed at the door. Since he had kicked the door in, he had assumed the electronic lock had been broken. Apparently he had no idea about the locking mechanism as apparently the door had relocked itself. Good thing too, since had that lock not been there, that door would've swung in and left Tien facing whoever was barging in.

From where he was seated, the agent could see a dark figure through the small window in the door, though any discernable features were unattainable. Keeping out of sight of the window, Tien crept around the table he had been seated at and made his way to stand right next to the door, against the wall as he held his gun at shoulder height.

The jiggling of the doorknob came to a halt after several more jiggles. Unconsciously, the bald man held his breath as he waited to see what would happen next. That was when shrill beeps were made, indicated that the person outside of the room was entering the passcode into the numbered panal. There were five beeps in all, a much louder, deeper-pitched beep following soon after. The door swung open then and a man entered the room.

Instantly, Tien closed the distance between them, putting the barrel of his gun against the person's head, causing them to freeze. "Don't move," the agent said in a low whisper. "Don't even make a sound." He paused for a moment to let those instructions sink in. "I'm going to ask you a question and you will answer by nodding or shaking your head. Is that understood?"

Slowly, the person nodded their head. "Are you alone?" Tien demanded, receiving another nod. "Were you ordered to come to this room?" This time, the head shook in the negative. That made Tien frown. What else could this guy what if he wasn't ordered here? Did he want the information stored in the computers or was he going to delete something? Any question he could come up with required more than a yes or no answer and he didn't want to make this guy make any unnecessary noise.

He would just have to make it harder for the guy to be heard then. "Take two steps into the room, nice and slow. Do not even _think_ of doing anything other than that." The person nodded their head frantically before slowly taking a step forward, followed by another. Out of the corner of his eye, the agent saw the door swing itself shut, fully closing with an audible click.

Now that he had a better look at his hostage, Tien could see it was a man, one of the ones dressed in black with a helmet visor. Great, that would make reading this guy's emotions impossible. Damn it, he needed him to talk. "Verbalize your answers now," he instructed, "What are you doing here?"

"Protocol," the man's gruff voice answered. "In the event of a disturbance of any kind, all rooms and wings need to be inspected and found clear of any potential threats."

Tien scowled. "That sounds dangerously like someone ordered you here. Don't tell me you're lying to me."

"Or you'll what? Shoot me?"

In his gut, Tien felt that no, he would not shoot this man. He was in control and it went against his morals to blatantly execute a man or torture them. Further reflection of these thoughts, however, were put on hold when the man suddenly shot an arm up, his forearm swinging up into the agent's hands and pushing his gun up. On instinct the bald man fired a shot, the bullet flying into the ceiling harmlessly.

With a lundge, the man tackled Tien to the floor, inadvertently knocking the gun out of the agent's hands and sending it sliding across the floor. Letting out a groan as the air in his lungs was forced out. Tien tried to catch his breath before the man on top of him began wailing punches onto his face. Explosions of pain roared throughout his face and the back of his head, leaving him dazed and helpless.

However, the agent's survival instinct kicked in moments later and shot up, grabbing his attacker's wrist to prevent him from punching him. That resulted in the dark-clad guard to lash out with his other hand, grabbing Tien by the throat. Letting out a hoarse cough, Tien quickly realized this guy was trying to choke him to death.

With his other hand, he gripped his attacker's choking arm at the wrist, pulling it up so he could relieve the pressure on his neck. Unfortunately, it didn't do as he had hoped as the pressure remained the same. Gagging, Tien tilted his head up and spied his gun lying on the floor, just out of reach. His first impulse was to try and reach out for the weapon, but he knew that if he did that, any resistance—even the pitiful one he had right now—would vanish as he was suffocated. No, he needed to get this guy off of him and off right now.

Returning his sights to his attacker, Tien could feel the strain in his arms building as he struggled against the guard's arms. The edges of his vision were beginning to blur, indicated he didn't have much time to act. Though he couldn't use his arms without putting himself in a more dire situation, that left him with using his legs. Frantically, he began kicking them, trying to beat them against the guard's body. Unfortunately, this had very little success, especially since one of his legs was trapped between his attacker's legs and not in any good position to perform a groin shot.

However, his other leg was not trapped, currently delivering week kicks to the guard's side. If anything, they were more like bumps instead of kicks. Stopping his kicking, he raised his free leg into the air and angled it to where his foot rested beneath his attacker's chin. With a strained grunt, he pushed his leg backwards, immediately forcing the dark-clad man backwards as well, and slightly loosening his grip on Tien's neck. Pouring more strength into the leverage his leg gave him, the agent finally heaved the guard off of him, the man unwillingly releasing his grip and toppling onto his back just as Tien released his own.

With a rush of air filling his lungs, the bald man flopped onto his stomach, looking towards his discarded gun. Weakly, he scrambled towards it, his recovering body slowing him down more than he would've liked. Thankfully, he reached the gun before his attacker jumped him again, his hand grabbing the handle of the gun as his finger pressed itself against the trigger.

Turning around, Tien felt a jolt of fright as he saw the guard already in midair, aiming to land right on top of him. Whipping the gun in front of him, the bald man got one shot off before the guard landed right on top of him. Twin grunts rang throughout the room, though neither man moved in the following moments.

Although it wasn't everyday Tien found himself lying underneath a prone man, the fact that his attacker wasn't moving made him feel both anxious and at ease. A wet feeling soon began covering on the upper part of his torso, prompting the agent to finally move, pushing the guard off of him. There he found a growing red spot towards the collar of his blue uniform, turning it to a slightly purplish color. Looking to the guard, he could see blood flowing from his neck—a miraculous shot if he didn't say so himself. Between the visor covering the man's face and the body armor on his chest, that left a very narrow window for anyone aiming for that part of the body. Lady Luck was shining on Tien today.

Lifting a hand, he extended a couple of his fingers and held them beneath the guards nose. Faintly, he could detect the guard's breath, but every second it grew weaker and weaker. No need to put another bullet into him. Withdrawing his hand, Tien then slowly rolled onto his stomach with a groan.

Pushing himself back onto his feet at a sedate pace, he made his way back to the computer to check its progress. _91% complete—no wait, 92%._

The rest of this download better finish up quickly. Tien didn't think he could go through another fight, or at the very least didn't want to find out.

...


	26. Chapter 26

**This chapter is brought to you by ShadowMajin**

Gohan's back slammed into the wall hard, instantly caving in the sheetrock and causing a spider web's worth of cracks to spread all over it. Speckles of spit and blood flew from the young man's wide open mouth as every part of his body screamed in pain. However, before he could collapse to the ground, a hand grabbed him by his throat and held him suspended in air, pressing him against the damaged wall as his feet limply touched the floor.

Though he was hurting, the youth had gotten his licks in on Prince. The man's clothes were worse for wear and there were a few trickles of blood on his face and arms. Unfortunately, Gohan hadn't come out of their latest exchange in that fine a condition. An eye was swollen shut, various bruises and cuts appearing randomly on his exposed flesh, not to mention the throbbing ache that burned throughout his body.

That pain got worse a second later as Prince began slamming his fist into his face, once, twice. Each time caused the back of Gohan's head to collide with the wall behind him, sending stars throughout his vision. Cracking open his good eye, he saw another punch coming right for him. At the last second, he jerked his head to a side, causing Prince to ram his fist into the wall. "Fuck!" the assassin shouted as he quickly withdrew his hand, his other hand releasing his hold on the youth's neck. Immediately, relief filled the young man's throat as the pressure on it disappeared.

As Prince cradled his hurting hand, Gohan didn't allow himself a moment's rest; he had to strike now before the dark-haired man retaliated. Steading his feet on the floor, he lashed out with a punch to the assassin's face, causing him to jerk back from the blow. Bending his striking arm, he lunged forward with it, ramming it into the man's right eye. A wild scream tore from his opponent's lips.

Finally, Gohan ducked down and fired off punches into Prince's chest and stomach, finishing off the barrage with an uppercut to the man's chin. The blow sent the man stumbling back until he bumped into the wall on the other side of the hallway.

Unfortunately, as he took a step to press on his attack, whatever stores of strength the youth had left vanished, leaving him listless as he found himself wobbling on his feet. In the interest of keeping himself up right, the young man leaned backwards and retreated back to the damaged wall, leaning up against it. Not once did his sights leave Prince, who was right now glaring at him through one good eye.

"You just don't give up, do you?" the man growled dangerously. "I haven't been this frustrated in a fight since Kakarot. Who the hell are you?"

That got Gohan's attention, enough so that he could even open his swollen eye a little bit. Goku had faced this guy? When? How had that fight ended? He would have kept showing his amazement had his training not kicked back in and forced him to steel his features. Now wasn't the time for questions.

"Kakarot was my father," he responded.

Prince stared at him before snorted in derision. "Lies. Kakarot only had one son and he's dead. The blonde bitch made sure of that. And considering that the clown was rarely home, there's no way he had time to make a second one."

Gohan kept quiet. No point in trying to force this guy to accept him. However, it seemed the assassin was doing his own accepting in a much different manner. "No, that isn't right is it?" Prince asked after a moment. "Spawn was his second child, right after his first one went missing."

The assassin narrowed his eyes more, studying Gohan. "Kakarot's stench is all over your fighting style. I thought I had been seeing things, but every move you've done is the same he would've done. And your face, there's a resemblance." A smirk began working its way over the dark-haired man's face. "So, Kakarot left us a nasty little surprise after all. After all the damage you've done, it's no wonder he wanted to strike out on his own."

"Which he was killed for," Gohan couldn't help but retort.

Prince's smirk grew wider at that. "Which _I_ killed him for."

The very blood in Gohan's veins went ice cold. "You?"

"It wasn't all that hard," the assassin taunted, clearly getting a kick out of this. "The man was always so focused on his assignments, he never would have expected one to end up as a trap. The moment he went to take his target down, I took him out. It was easy."

Chaos raged in the youth's head. The last three weeks of his life were all the result of a set-up. Ox-King hadn't been the real target, just a convenient red distraction for the true victim. Just the thought of that focused his anger. His body went rigid, hands clenching into tight fists.

Prince was going _down_.

Ki flooded throughout Gohan's body, the youth focusing it in various places, particularly in his legs and left hand. Snapping his charged hand up, he fired a ki blast at the assassin, who jerked to a side to avoid the beam as it cut into the wall behind him. Yet, the man had made an error as his head turned to follow the blast, his eyes leaving Gohan.

The world around the dark-haired youth blurred them, the only thing remaining in focus was Prince. With his other hand, he swung it at the assassin's head and made contact, the blow instantly launching Prince into the wall and crashing through it. Pieces of sheetrock and concrete were flung throughout the air in the room beyond it.

Gohan paused at this as he kept his sights on Prince, who crashed to the floor roughly. The young man had been trying to imitate that blurring trick that Piccolo had used against him and the results were startling. The entire time the green man had been boosting his speed, though at the expense of his vision. The eye wasn't designed to process information at such high speeds, thus the blurring.

The youth shook his head. Now wasn't the time to be marveling over such tricks. Prince was beginning to push himself off the floor and turning to face the youth. It didn't take a rocket scientist to know he would be very, very angry. Once more, Gohan shot towards the shorter man, his sight blurring all except for his target. As he closed in, the young man drew his leg further back than necessary and swung it forward. His foot connected with Prince's chin, immediately sending him off the floor, his body hanging in midair as spit and blood erupted from his mouth. With his left hand, Gohan pulled it back and swung it forward, slamming his fist into his opponent's chest and sending him flying into another wall. A pain cry came from the assassin as the sheetrock nearly shattered, a spiderweb of cracks indicating where it had been hit. The short man collapsed to the floor a moment later, somehow managing to land on his hands and knees.

However, it seemed that blow wasn't enough to take him down. Recovering much faster than Gohan had anticipated, Prince jerked his head up to glare with rage, raising a glowing hand up as well. A ki blast fired from his hand, racing towards the youth. Gohan reacted instantly blurring to one side of the beam and barely feeling its heat as it flew by harmlessly.

Prince would not let that go though, as he readjusted his aim and fired another blast at the dark-haired youth. Again, Gohan blurred back to his original position unharmed.

"Stay still!" Prince barked out enraged as he reamed again and fired another beam. Once more, Gohan blurred out of the attack's way, but this time he shot towards the assassin, ramming his knee into the man's face. Prince's head was forced backwards, the back of his skull slamming against the ruined wall behind him. As the assassin's body collapsed to the floor, Gohan moved out of the way, standing at the man's side.

The youth wasn't done, however. Kneeling down, he grabbed the back of Prince's shirt collar and hauled him up. With his other arm, he wrapped it around his opponent's neck. Releasing his grip on the shirt collar, Gohan brought his hand to Prince's face and put it on the opposite side. Then with as much force as he could muster, the young man jerked the assassin's head to a side, a roar erupting from the youth's lips as Prince's neck broke with an audible crack.

Dropping Prince's body to the ground, Gohan stumbled backwards as another cry rang out. Rage was overwhelming his senses and before he knew it, he was back in the hallway. Never mind that he hadn't been walking towards it, his body had somehow made the trek while his mind was preoccupied. Unfortunately, anger couldn't only last for so long as he soon felt drained. With his legs giving out, the youth fell backwards, his hands catching him before he hit the floor. He roughly settled his rear end on the floor before bending his knees up so he could rest his arms on them.

Heavy breathing filled the hallway as Gohan calmed himself down. Resting his forehead against his arms, the young man tried to process his thoughts. He hadn't ever expected to feel so enraged for his father. Their relationship had been strained the last few years, what with him moving out to live his own life. Then with the sudden revelations of who the man was and what he had done to him, Gohan had no idea what to feel. And yet, despite it all, finding out that his father had been murdered had sparked something within him. No matter what Goku had done, he would always be the man he called dad.

But with that said, even after avenging his death, Gohan felt hollow. Was this what it felt like to kill people? To want to kill them and succeed? It was horrible. He…he needed to get out of here.

Tilting his head up, Gohan found himself staring at the wall in front of him, which had a building directory still in one piece. As his eyes gazed at it from bottom to top, something caught his attention. There, towards the bottom:

_CEO_ _Office—Room 306._

* * *

The sound of Tien's shoes clashing against the cement floor of the parking garage echoed throughout the building. The agent was antsy, constantly looking over shoulder and from side to side to make sure there weren't any nasty surprises around. At this point, it would be a shame if he got shot just as he was on his way out of here.

The place was relatively abandoned, at least in comparison to when he and Gohan had first arrived. It seemed the explosions had ran everyone off—all the better for Tien's escape.

His car was just in front of him, three empty spots down. The bald man's pace quickened as he closed the distance. However, when he reached it, he was disappointed to see that Gohan was nowhere around.

Tien gritted his teeth at that. Oh, how much he wanted the dark-haired youth to be waiting on him.

He had been dreading the sight of not seeing Gohan as he left. There were so many things that needed to be done and he was the star witness to it all. Without him, it would be harder to press on—that wasn't to say it would be impossible, but the degree of difficulty would drop.

"_Don't wait for me,"_ Gohan voice echoed in his head, which only served to frustrate the agent further. Reaching the driver's door, Tien reached for the door handle and pulled, opening the door. It was then that he remembered his last words to the younger man about locking it. "The next time I see him, I'm gonna have words with him," Tien grumbled before climbing into the car. Slamming the door shut, he fished out his car keys and inserted one into the ignition.

A calm silence then fell onto the bald man. Glancing out the passenger's window, he stared at the elevators, willing them to open and reveal his partner. Moments passed and the longer he waited, the more he felt that his wish wouldn't come true.

Trying to buy time, Tien reached over and pulled on his seatbelt, clicking it into place. Reaching to the ignition, he turned the key and heard the engine roar to life, the sound amplified by the acoustics of the parking garage. With one last look to the elevators, the agent let out a sign before shifting the gear into reverse, backing out of his spot, and then shifting to drive. A second later he was driving up the ramps to reach the surface.

"You better make it out of there, Kid," the agent muttered.

* * *

Light flooded through the open doorway and into a dark room. Despite the fluorescent bulbs giving off some very bright light, the darkness of the room swallowed it whole, barely allowing a few feet inside to be illuminated. Gohan stood in the threshold, a hand on the door handle and staring into the dark void.

He had to admit, he wasn't expecting this. When he'd read 'CEO Office', he'd assumed there would be a large room with furniture out the wazoo. Instead, it looked as if a recluse that feared sunlight lived in here—assuming that there was some sort of furniture in here. He wasn't all that sure.

"Who are you?' a voice echoed out from the room, startling the youth out of his musing. It had come so unexpectedly, he had no time to try to focus on where it came from. Somewhere in front of him obviously, but that didn't help things at all. However, he didn't respond at all to the raspy voice. He would outwait them and let their impatience betray their location.

"I said, who are you?"

Gohan held back a grimace. That statement didn't help him pinpoint a location either. All it did was confirm what he already knew. It seemed he needed a different tactic. "You don't need to know my name," he called out into the darkness. Faintly, he was aware of the wooden floor that the light showed.

"You will tell me your identity, or I promise you, it will be ripped out of you, along with some very important organs."

Gohan narrowed his eyes into a glare, his first expression of emotion here. "Tough talk for a man that hides in the shadows."

A silence fell upon the room for several moments until it was interrupted by a harsh chuckle. "Hide? No one has accused me of that in many years."

"Show yourself then. I didn't come all this way to shout at an intangible voice."

Another silence ended their exchange, but Gohan didn't have to wait to receive a reaction. On either side of him, lights began to appear, giving off a dull glow. They beat back at the darkness, but had as much luck as the fluorescent lighting in that endeavor. Yet, the young man could see just a tiny bit further.

That little bit, however, proved all the difference as a creature emerged from the shadows. It came to a stop a short distance away from Gohan, but he could clearly make out pale skin, bordering on white. It was only on its hands and head as the rest of its body was covered in a suit, but it was still noticeable. The purple on the top of his head seemed to act as some sort of hair, though he was obviously bald.

And yet, Gohan found that this creature's red eyes were the most discerning part of this thing. He had never seen such eyes in his life and the alarms in his head were screaming loudly in his head. There was something wrong with this guy.

"My eyes are quite sensitive to light, you see," the creature stated, its masculine voice seeming to warm up, though warming up from frigid to icy wasn't much of a difference. "Darkness is a necessity for me to see, though it does come with some fringe benefits."

The creature's eyes scanned the youth, sending a chill up and down his spine. "I must say, you do look familiar. I've doubt we've met before, but you look like someone I once knew."

Gohan mentally shook his head, clearing out the daze that had settled on him. Now wasn't the time to be rattled. "So you're the boss of Tactical Securities."

A small smile appeared on the creature's lips. "I am. You may call me Frieza, but I still wish to know your identity." The smile disappeared from his face. "Unless _you_ are the one responsible for the commotion going about my building."

This time, Gohan deigned to reply to the man. "I am."

Frieza's face was one of contempt at that response. "You've made a terrible mistake. I can promise you that you won't be leaving this building alive."

"That's assuming you're able to kill me," the young man retorted. "Your guards weren't able to take me down and your agent, Prince, is dead. Actually, I'd be willing to say your top three agents are all dead, so there's no point in you hoping one of them shows up."

The contempt look faded away, replaced by a blank one. "So, you're the mysterious Paul Kay I've heard so much about. I commend you on your efforts—it's no easy task fighting and killing the men in my command. I believe I can understand why Kakarot and Spawn decided to align themselves with you."

This time, it was Gohan's turn to scowl at the man before him. "Which you killed them for."

"This is a cutthroat business," Frieza shrugged off with a roll of his shoulders. "There's enough competition in this field and a fledgling new rival is the last thing I need. I was quite disappointed that those two would actually consider such an attempt after everything we've been through." A sly look appeared on the pale man's face. "But now that I see you and the beauty of your work, I can't blame them for their aspirations."

A straightening of the man's posture alerted Gohan that something was up. "Which leads me to this offer: Join me. Tactical Securities is in a rebuilding phrase and I need fresh blood to take it to heights unimaginable up to this point. Together, we can change the world. What do you say?"

Gohan wasn't able to hide the incredulous look that appeared on his face. A job offer? After everything that had happen, this man, the one that ordered the deaths of his family was offering him a job as if it had been one large interview?

A snort came from the youth. "Fresh blood you say? You mean people like me."

A small smile graced Frieza's lips. "In so many words, yes."

"I didn't pick up these skills overnight, you know." At this, the dark-haired young man could see Frieza was hiding some annoyance behind his smile. Oh well, he would just have to listen. "It took years and the experimental training of Project Dormancy to get here and one of your agents blew that all away without a second thought."

That got Frieza's attention. "Dormancy?" he practically exclaimed if one could call a few raised octaves in one's voice exclaiming. "It really works?" A thoughtful silence settled on the pale man. "Interesting."

Before Gohan could respond, Frieza was talking again. "It would seem I've underestimated quite a bit the last few years. Between success and the yes men, I've been blinded to the changing currents of this industry. Already you're paying off dividends. Don't you see? _You_ are the future and I am not a fool to stand in your way. You're a bit rough around the edges, but I can assist you in your climb to the top. What do you say? You won't find another offer this good."

The young man had to admit, the flattery was enticing. So much so, he answered "Okay, I'm in."

Frieza's eyes lit up at the acceptance. "I'm glad to hear that. We will change the world, my Agent Dormant."

"Change the world, yes," Gohan agreed. "For my first assignment—"

"Don't worry about that just yet," Frieza interrupted, a bemused expression on his face. "There's plenty of things we need to go through before you reach the field."

Gohan's arm lashed out, his hand grabbing the pale man by the throat and lifting him off the ground, taking him by surprise. Almost immediately, the young man felt Frieza thrash around in midair, his own hand grabbing the youth's arm as he tried to dislodge the hand choking him. "As I was saying," Gohan continued nonplused, "For my first assignment, my target is you. And I will be fulfilling that assignment in three…"

At this the dark-haired youth raced his other hand and held it right in the middle of Frieza's torso. How this guy thought he would just forget the agony and torment he had caused the young man, Gohan didn't know. But he was going to show him quickly that he had made a great error. "Two…" he counted down as his hand began glowing a golden light.

A strangled cry ripped from Frieza's lips as he continued to struggle. It would all be for naught.

"One…"

The ki blast roared from his hand, enveloping everything from Frieza's chest on down to his feet. A gargled scream sputtered out of the pale's man's wide open mouth as his eyes bulged out of his skull.

Then as sudden as it appeared, Gohan stopped the outpour of ki and the beam disappeared in an instant. The only thing left of Frieza was the top part of his shoulders, his neck, and head. With a disgusted look, the dark-haired youth tossed the remains to the floor before turning around to exit the room.

"Assignment Complete."

...


	27. Chapter 27

**This final chapter is brought to you by ShadowMajin.**

Tien was dressed in his best suit; it wasn't everyday that he was called upon to testify before a congressional committee, but today was just such a day. Standing in front of a lone desk, he held several files in front of him, lightly tapping one side of the stack against the wooden surface to straighten them out.

There was a large gallery of seats behind him, all of them empty as this was a preliminary hearing and was not accessible to the public. The days of having curious eyes watching his back would be coming soon enough, but for now all bystanders and media personnel were relegated to outside the room.

Before the agent was a large, two-level podium where the committee chairs sat. Each had a microphone and a small space in front of them to lay their notes and materials. All were dressed for the occasion and stared at the bald man impatiently.

Taking a seat at his table, Tien reached out to the microphone resting on his table and adjusted it for his use. "My name is Tien Shinhan, an agent of the NAIE. I would like to thank the Congressional Committee of Judiciary Investigations for appearing today.

Towards the middle and front of the table sat a pitcher of water with two small glasses. Reaching for the pitcher, he lifted it up and tilted it to one of the glasses, filling it with water. Once he placed the pitcher back on the table, he picked up the glass and took a deep drink of the water. In the meantime, one of the committee chairs recited his introductory statement, just as the chairmen before him had . "On the 3rd day of July, the Judiciary Committee is overseeing the preliminary arguments and findings being disclosed by the NAIE agent, Tien Shinhan, who has leveled serious accusations against NAIE Director Jackie Roshi, Senators John Malone, William Engvall, Richard Johnson, and the defense contracting corporation Tactical Securities. These accusations include conspiracy, corruption, bribery, and murder by assassination."

The same committee chair continued as he directed his words to Tien. "Why is it you have come to level such accusations on such people?"

Tien cleared his throat upon being addressed. "Members of the Judiciary Committee, evidence has come into my possession that implicates the accused. Before each committee member is a copy of the evidence being presented in its entirety."

One of the committee members was flipping through a few of the pages paused at the bald man's words. "How is it you came to possess these documents, Agent Shinhan?"

"I was tipped off to the involvement during my investigation of the Ox-King assassination by a source that wishes to remain anonymous," Tien answered. "He approached me with information linking the accused to the assassination and retrieved the documents and files that I have presented before the committee."

"And who is this source? What is his connection to all of this?"

"As I've stated previously, the source wishes to remain anonymous for fear of endangering his life. He—"

"How would his life be endangered?" the same chairman interrupted, looking quite put out.

Tien leveled a stern look at the congressman. "I highly suggest you acquaint yourself with the files, Sir. If you had, you would have read in detail how Tactical Securities was a front for a group of assassins. The source was already running for his life when we met and risked his life getting this information to me. These are very dangerous people."

"I have read the file, Agent," the congressman growled into the microphone. "But I fail to see how NAIE Director Roshi and the accused senators fit into this. Quite frankly, I find this entire matter largely the end product of a conspiracy theory."

Tien stared at that man before he leaned towards his microphone and said "The accused senators are merely the most prominent ones that were discovered to have involvement. Each one was heavily involved in legislation that benefited Tactical Securities, but they are _not_ the only ones. There are many, _many_ others that are going unnamed as their roles were considered trivial in comparison. But I can easily expand the investigation to include _all_ parties involved if the committee deems it so fit."

Almost immediately, a few of the committee chairs straightened up in their seats, their undivided attention right on the bald man. The speaking chairman cleared his throat uncomfortably before replying, "If you would please answer the question in regards to your source's connection to all of this."

"He was a former employee of Tactical Securities," Tien responded, looking unaffected by the reaction to his declaration.

"Is there a name we can refer to the source by? For the public record."

Tien paused at that. For several moments, he mulled over the request before a wiry grin appeared on his face. Glancing up to the committee, he took a sip of his water before he gave them his answer.

"He wishes to be known only as Dormant."

* * *

_"This is Jimmy Firecracker for ZTV, coming to you live at the steps of Congress. Approximately two months ago, Senator Mao Ox-King was killed in his office in Orange Star City. His death has resulted in a mass investigation by the National Agency of Inquiry and Enforcement and approximately three weeks ago, NAIE agent Tien Shinhan revealed the investigation's findings._

_"In a dramatic turn of events, NAIE Director Jackie Roshi, along with several sitting senators and representatives were named as co-conspirators in an assassination ring that had been funneling federal funds into the defense contracting corporation known as Tactical Securities. A week prior, the headquarters of the corporation was attacked by what was ruled as a terrorist attack. As of yet, no known terrorist group has taken credit for the attack, but an investigation is pending. Still, these latest accusations are the last thing the reeling defense contractors need as they try to recover from the attack._

_"As I speak, the Congressional Committee of Judiciary Investigation is in session with the NAIE agent, going over the preliminary findings to determine if charges will be leveled against the accused parties."_

_The voice paused._

_"I am just now being informed that the Judiciary Committee has ruled that further proceedings will be needed to uncover the conspiracy surrounding Tactical Securities and NAIE Director Roshi. Deliberations are still underway as to whether Senators—"_

The radio was silenced as the car door was open. It was the only way Gohan knew how to turn it off, yet he wasn't ready to get out of the car. Slamming the door shut, he remained seated in the driver's seat, staring out the passenger side window and at the house beyond it.

Tien was doing an admirable job in his prosecutions, or at least from the dark-haired youth's position it looked like it. They hadn't talked much other than Gohan telling the agent that he was disappearing. The only means of communication they had was a prepaid phone in a duffle bag in the truck, Tien's number stored in the contacts list. Though the bald man had the number for the phone, the young man had said in no uncertain terms that any phone call had to be an emergency. Anything else and Tien would lose his only means of contacting him.

In the weeks since their assault on Tactical Securities, Gohan had been keeping busy. While lying low was his primary objective, he had another one in his mind that he wanted to follow through on. The house he was currently parked in front of was the result of his search.

Scenarios played through the young man's mind. He wasn't at all sure how things would go once he walked up to the house and knocked on the door. His nerves were getting the better of him.

Continuing to sit in silence, Gohan felt the minutes tick on by until the inside of the car began to feel uncomfortable. The sun was heating up the vehicle and it would soon become an oven if he didn't get out. Feeling that he had stalled for long enough, he reopened the car door and slid out, slamming the door behind him. Sucking in a deep breath, he walked around the car and onto the sidewalk that led right up to the front door of the house. Each step rang loudly in his head as if it was signaling the end was imminent.

Yeah, his nerves were definitely getting the better of him.

Reaching the front door, the youth pressed the doorbell button, hearing a chime ring throughout the house. Glancing to the driveway next to the building, Gohan found a car parked there. Someone was home, though there was always a chance that the house's resident had left by other means.

It took awhile, but eventually Gohan heard the shifting of locks being unlocked, followed by the squealing of hinges as the door open. On the other side stood a weary woman, her dark hair disheveled due to improper care. Her clothes were well-kept, but one could see it in her face that she wasn't doing very well.

That was to be expected though. The last time Gohan had seen the woman, she had been crying her eyes out at her husband's funeral. Obviously she still wasn't over it.

"Hello?" she greeted him warily, not sure what to expect of him. "Is there something I can help you with?"

"There is, Ma'am," Gohan answered her. Though he was certain of who she was, it was always best to confirm. "Are you Mrs. Son Chichi?"

The tired woman nodded her head in affirmation. "I am. Have we met before?"

A small smile appeared on the young man's face. He could almost recognize the woman, though it had been quite some time since he had seen her. His father's funeral to be exact as she had been the only person there openly grieving. The young man recalled wondering how close she had been to Goku and now it seemed he had his answer.

Taking a deep breath, he mentally prepared himself before he spoke. "It's been a long time, so I don't expect you to remember me. It's taken me awhile to track you down actually. My name is Son Gohan and I'm your son."

* * *

**Team Dragon Star would like to thank everyone that has read, reviewed, favorited, and enjoyed this story. A sequel is already being planned and should be out shortly. Once more, thank you everyone!**


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